The Spartans of Mandalore
by hswatton147922
Summary: They called us the best. Didn't feel like it sometimes. But this, this was a chance. A chance to make the best, to have a true, lasting legacy that will be heard across the whole galaxy. This was my chance to change it all and to truly make the greatest soldiers this galaxy had ever seen. Better than all the rest. Maybe then this new title of mine won't weigh me down so much.
1. Chapter 1

Jango POV

He was waiting. 3 drinks in and he was still waiting. The bar was basically barren, a waiter picking up glasses here a bartender cleaning a glass there. There was nothing to do and no one to talk too. What was he doing here? She contacted him and still made him wait?! If it was for a job he would have told her to shove it, he had, after all, just landed a very _very_ lucrative job that would require full commitment with very little room for other jobs. That being said that didn't mean no room. But he digressed, she wanted him and he was here while she was not. Hell he didn't even want to be here and he certainly didn't want to talk to her so that begged the question, what brought him here? Curiosity!

'You need me!' That's all the message said. Well, that, her name, time and place for this meeting.

He finished what was left of his glass and made to stand, he was done waiting.

'I hear you just became a Drill Sergeant. I suppose congratulations are in order.' Well… he was right, he was done waiting.

'And where did you hear that?' He knew, of course, she had eyes and ears everywhere.

'Don't insult yourself. Or me, for that matter.' She sat down across from him and stared. He was to make the first move then?!

'You wanted me, well, I'm here.' The arrogant dismissal on her face was telling.

' **You** need **me.** _Not_ the other way around. You can assist me and accelerate my timetable but you are not essential.' Her words grated. He was the best at what he did and he still wasn't good enough?! We'd see about that!

'And what exactly is it that I _need_ you for? And, for that matter, what do you want from me?' Despite her arrogance he couldn't deny it was well warranted, he was the best at what he did but then, so was she, and she did more, a lot more.

'You are training soldiers! You need me to ensure they are the best they can be. As for what you can help me with, well it is something along the same vain. You are currently commissioned to help train _some_ of the best soldiers in the galaxy. I want your help to create **the** best soldiers in the galaxy.' He sat back. Well she knew more about his next assignment then most but she was wrong, he was training the best, he **was dammit.** But if, by some miracle he wasn't, if… then what did he have left. This was his legacy, the greatest the galaxy had ever seen. His family name immortalised along with all his forebearers. And then maybe, just maybe, he would be worthy of the title his dear friend left for him to shoulder alone.

'And what _exactly_ did you have in mind Dr. Halsey?' She smiled.

* * *

Jango POV

Well. It was ambitious. The training regime, the enhancements, the **equipment.** Hell, the equipment made him jealous and he bought the best money could buy. But, then again, money couldn't buy Halsey's genius. She only used her knowledge for a higher purpose. What, he didn't know, he just knew she was aiming for something higher than anything he could ever hope to grasp.

'I will admit this could all be used to create a soldier of unrivalled skill but who did you have in mind to use it.' He liked hyperspace. The dull whoosh of the stars as they passed combined with the lights and colours made it a very relaxing experience, especially 'cus no one could shoot him in hyperspace.

'Currently I have the candidates narrowed down to 150 but I only have enough credits to properly outfit 75. Here's the list.' She passed him a pad. He scrolled through the list, only really checking the names and not reading the descriptions, to see if there were any he recognised. There were none. Curious, while the names he knew weren't the most reputable, and certainly weren't people you would want near the type of hardware Halsey came up with, he should have recognised some. He knew the best on both sides of the law, after all, you need to know about potential enemies.

'I don't recognise any of them.' He held out the pad. She smirked, osik, wasn't that annoyingly condescending.

'Look again.' He did. This time he took more time looking at each of them. He paused. That couldn't be right. He looked at the next, and the next, and the next. Their age, all of them, 6. They were kids. Don't get him wrong his issue wasn't a moral one, his ship was named Slave 1 after all and it wasn't just because it could be used to transport alive targets.

'Don't you think people will noticed 75 missing kids from various rim worlds?' That smirk again. It always made him feel like it just missed the obvious. Admittedly, if he had read the list properly he would have been spared the smirk when he remarked about not knowing them but in this case he genuinely failed to see what he missed.

'Well,' She started, smirk never leaving her face, 'we are going to Kamino, are we not?!'

* * *

Jango POV

Lama Su was like a Womp Rat with the way he was bouncing when he met with Halsey.

'Dr. Catherine Halsey I must say, when Jango told me he had recruited you for help with our latest endeavour I could scarcely believe it. But with you here, in front of me, I know that together we can achieve far more than either could alone.' Well what do you know. Halsey could genuinely smile.

'Thank you President Su…' She started.

'Please, Lama.' Ancestors, I didn't realise he could be such a suck up.

'Lama, I thank you for this chance to realise some of my greatest work and for you accepting my conditions for working with you.' She had more than enough money to fund this venture so I suppose getting the Kaminoans help without having to pay for it was a massive boon. It also didn't carry a price tag, meaning she could get far more help than she otherwise would have had access to if she had to pay for everything. Clever.

'No thanks are necessary Dr. I understand the significance of your work and your help in ours is greatly appreciated.' She wanted Flash Clones. _Full_ Flash Clones. Clones engineered to grow at the fastest rate possible. It was meant to create genetically engineered organs to help stabilise a patient until a true donor could be found. At least that's what they told him. The problem was that due to the extremely rapid grow of the cloned specimens they wouldn't live out the full, accelerated life cycle before they broke down and started to mutate which killed the organ, or in this case, subject. Halsey wanted to kidnap the kids by making it look like they weren't kidnapped but had died of natural causes. It was genius.

Hey, he was Mandalorian, they've burned planets and gassed species with neurotoxins that resulted in the species going so mad they lost true reason and became semi-sentient for the next few generations just to get their war droids. What did it matter anyway, the Basilisks were sentient now anyhow?

'There is one thing I am curious about Dr. Halsey. I too have read over the list of candidates you gave to Jango and I find myself wondering, well, why them? It was a highly specific list. If you are in need of 75 specimens then we can provide or, if they must be true born, then why not all from a single planet or, at the very least, system? Furthermore most of the 150 candidates are from Mandalorian territories. I find myself wondering if there is a more _sentimental_ reason for your choices.' He meant revenge. Halsey was Brilliant, with a capital B, but she did have a habit of pissing people off. This wasn't more evident than on Halsey Homeworld, Concord Dawn. Funny, for a clan like the Hardeen who gave birth to the greatest Mandalorian Marksmen to have spawned someone like Halsey, who was as far away from a true Mandalorian as you could get while still being called a Mandalorian. During Halsey's earlier years she made waves by all but outright stating that the Mandalorian as they were today were far from the level they should be at. It wouldn't have been so bad if she was an above average warrior but she spent more time working on being the smartest that she never took the time to be the best. This coupled with her remarks made her unpopular but her intelligence bought her grudging respect from all the clans of Mandalore, not just the ones on Concord Dawn. That smirk was back.

'I understand your reasoning but I can assure you Lama that my decision was purely scientific. These candidates were chosen not for who they are but **what** they are.' That made me sit up in my chair, if this weird, floaty spoon thing could be called a chair that is. I suppose it should but at the risk of being called old fashioned, I was of the opinion that chairs had to be connected to the _ground_ not the ceiling. Lama Su just looked confused and it showed.

'Allow me to explain. After extensive research in my younger years on my first Doctorate in Biology I came to the conclusion that Biology has just as much a say in those who excel as training does.' The hell?!

'After extensive testing and study I have found that there is a specific gene, a single one, that is present within those who excel, far and away more frequently, who are the best in their field of expertise than those who aren't.' That wasn't anything new. Selective genetic breeding has always been a thing to ensure certain desirable traits lived on. This basically proved that certain genes could be breed to achieve a desired result.

'I understand that certain abilities can be enhanced with the right genes Dr. but do you really…' Apparently we didn't understand well enough for the good doctors liking as she interrupted.

'You misunderstand me President Su. I don't mean certain gene markers that can enhance physical traits but a single gene marker that is responsible for a greater potential across the board. Greater physical _and_ mental abilities. This gene does not, however, guarantee better abilities though just that it will be much easy and far more natural for these individuals with the gene marker to grasp tasks no matter their complexity and allows for less time needed to allow these individuals to reach the same level as others. This will greatly improve their abilities over their peers even with the same time spent under the same teacher.' Well. That was enlightening. A gene that could make anyone a natural genius at anything, if I understood this right. Within the same 10 year time frame that is used to train my clones on how to be soldiers Halsey could train her soldiers to be far better. No wonder she thought her program would produce better soldiers even without Halsey's own improvements, like her augmentations and equipment. She had the key to accelerate training and conditioning and she wanted to use that key to unlock the potential to the greatest warriors the galaxy had ever seen. It hit me. Halsey was 15 when she earned her second doctorate in Droid Engineering and AI Interface but her first was in Biology. The reason for her thoughts on where exactly the Mandalorian people should be were because she already knew about the gene. How long had she been planning this? And why the Mandalorians? Luckily I didn't have to wait long.

'What do you know of the Jedi President?' Apparently she forgot to call him Lama, I nearly snorted, she didn't forget she just didn't need pleasantries anymore, she had him hooked, me too actually.

'I'm afraid I don't understand?' That made two of us but I suspected out of the two I understood less.

'The ratio of human to non-humans within the Jedi order wouldn't bring up any questions normally. But when you compare the ratio of humans to non-humans throughout the galaxy you find we vastly outnumber all other species but our numbers within the Jedi order fail to reflect that. On the other hand, our numbers within the Mandalorian clans, who accept the best of any race, far exceeds the galactic average. The question is why? And the answer, this, specific, gene!' Thinking about it, she was right. Not only was humanity the widest spread species with the highest population count, we dominated in numbers within the Mandalorian culture. Not to mention the original race that made up the Mandalorians, the Taung, lost their Homeworld, Coruscant, to humanity to. How could a race as physically and technologically inferior to the true Mandalorian Race possibly have won? Halsey's theory answered so much that I failed to even question. I guess that's why she's the genius and I'm the merc. She continued.

'These 150 children have been selected because they all have the gene and are the most likely candidates to pass on the gene to the next generation. As for why most of the gene comes from Mandalorian children, well, it's because Mandalore only takes the best and, while not impossible for others to reach the same level, the best from each race are those who are most likely to have the gene. And I believe that the gene is responsible for humanity's prosperity even at the expense of the ability to wield the Force. The gene is not, however, exclusive to humanity, of course, but the gene is fairly elusive even in humans, the chance of finding it in other species would be extremely low.' Well that explained the fact that all of the candidates were human and why there were so few potentials even if she could only make 75 of these soldiers. Lama Su apparently still had questions.

'While this is very fascinating I find myself wondering, ifthis gene exists then why have we and the galaxy at large failed to identify it?' A valid question. The galaxy as a whole may be constantly shifting and knowledge lost all of the time but something like this would have made waves. Especially in the cloning community, that the Kaminoans dominate.

'I first started looking for answers into the odd ratios of human to non humans within both the galaxy at large and the Mandalorian people. This search for a scientific reason for such a phenomenon eventually lead me to finding this gene. It was thankfully down to the fact that I was within Mandalorian Sector that I made this discovery as it meant there were enough results of the gene working to form my basic thesis before further in depth study to determine the validity of the theory. Your pool of candidates for genetic cloning is so wide you would have had to analyse each gene individually over a vast array of subject and even then you are not guaranteed to have found any link between this gene and overall subject performance. Quite simply President, you didn't know where to look.'

* * *

Jango POV

The project went ahead quickly after that. As the first batch of 200,000 clones were being prepared Halsey and I went to each of the 150 to meet them personally so Halsey could hand pick her 75. I remember meeting the kids. I could see it now. Knowing the gene was inside of them I could see, these stood above their peers, even now, at 6. What would they be like in the future? One stood out in particular. It was a young boy on Concordia of the Vizsla House. His name was Shev'la, Silent, it suited him. It wasn't an unnatural quiet but more like he was analysing everything, every situation, and deciding what action to take. The boy looked to be a high risk, high reward kind of person. Huh, my kind of kid. Although you need an insane amount of luck to ever have any good returns on that type of strategy but the kid didn't look to perturbed by this. Halsey did her usual coin toss trick to test the reflexes. He surprised me, he snatched it. Caught the coin mid air before I even saw it. Halseys face said it all. This boy was her favourite by far and it showed when she asked him another question that she hadn't asked the others.

'Shev'la, how many people live in your clan?' Huh. Not many trained professionals could accurately count how many people they lived with when they lived in numbers this big. It was a sign of true awareness and alertness to know the exact number so you would always know when someone was added or someone went missing. It was a skill that was present in only the best like myself. But, as said before, the boy surprised me.

'117.' Halsey's grin just grew.

* * *

Jango POV

We had one more stop to make after we saw all 150 kids. It was to Mandalore, actually. To see a Mando named Jacob. He was a sullen fellow who looked as if he had a small weight that he could never quite shift. We went to his house within Kryze territory, I wasn't sure if he was a member of the House or of one of its Clans. Halsey and Jacob both sat at the table while I leant against the wall while looking around the modest but cosy home. It was a quaint little place that wasn't really standout in any way, just another Mando home on Mandalore I suppose. Movement out of the corner of my eye drew my gaze to one of the bedroom doors that had just slid open before a curious little head of blue hair popped out with an equally blue pair of eyes and lips attached to a curious head followed it. The girl was a cute little thing with wide, inquisitive eyes that seemed to analyse everything, sort of like Shev'la. Only, instead of using the information to assess a situation like a good soldier she dissected everything new she could see, specifically me, like a talented scientist. If Halsey was planning on recruiting her I would have to say otherwise. The girl was obviously smart, like Halsey level smart, but that was the problem. Halsey was the greatest mind of her age but she was no soldier and neither was this girl.

Surprisingly another head rounded the corner too. This one much like her sister, for the two could only be sisters, had matching eyes and hair, only this one was brown. Curious, but I suppose the first girl could have dyed it. She, again, assessed all she could see, only instead of wanting to know how it worked like her sister she looked like she was trying to see how she could use what she saw to her advantage, the trait of a good commander. But, again, Halsey wasn't looking for commanders, there would be enough from the clones, she wanted to create the greatest warrior the galaxy had ever seen, ones who could stand alongside and then surpass even the Jedi. The second girl's eyes moved from me to Halsey, while the firsts never left me. Brown eyes widened in surprise before quickly focusing on their sister. She whispered something and pulled her sister back, the sister didn't look too pleased with this but relented and both disappeared from view. Curious, that look almost seemed as though she recognised Halsey. I focused back on Halsey and Jacobs conversation.

'No.' Firm, unrelenting, the man wasn't gonna change his mind, whatever it was. 'I won't let you.' It was my turn to widen my eyes in surprise. Did Halsey tell him? No, no of course not. She had spent more years on this than in anything else, she would never endanger it now.

'You don't have a choice it's my legal right.' O...Kay. We had literally spent the last 3 days going planet to planet in order to make a list of children we planned to kidnap along with making 75 clones that were engineered to die, essentially murder. Funny how the law mattered now.

'They're not old enough to make their own decisions.' What did the girls have to do with this? I really should have payed more attention.

'One has already dyed her own hair and permanently stained her lips blue and the other has already enrolled herself into the naval military academy, I think they can make their own minds up.' Jacob looked even more sullen but he called the girls to the table. They approached cautiously.

'Girls, Dr. Halsey would like to ask you something.' Well time to find out what this was all about. Halsey looked annoyed.

'You don't have to make it sound like I'm not their mother.' What? That was a surprise. Although I suppose that made more sense. The sullenness from Jacob and the reasoning for using 6 year olds from Halsey. No matter how many times she said it was because their minds were more accepting of indoctrination and their bodies more adaptable to augmentation. The result, the ultimate soldier. Yeah, not buying it. Why not 3 or 4 year olds then. Greater control over their development and personalities then whereas now they are already showing different traits, like Shev'la and the girls. If she had changed the age to 6 after finding out about our 10 year time frame to better prepare them for deployment with the clones, like Halsey apparently wants, for field testing she says, then I could accept that as the cybernetic augmentation is supposed to happen when they hit 14 years. This leaves 2 years to better prepare their new bodies for war. But no, seeing the girls made sense now. She chose 6 not for the best results but because she missed her daughters, because she saw these new soldiers as her own children. Halsey turned to the girls.

'Girls, I am going to be away for a long time and I would like for you to come with me. Would you like to come with me?' I can safely say I wasn't expecting that. On second thought I should. While it's shocking Halsey wants her precious daughters to see what was about to happen to her new child soldiers I suppose if she was willing to put children through her harsh regime and alterations then I suppose she wouldn't mind if other children saw it, even if it was her own daughters, anything so long as the girls were by her side. Brown looked outraged.

' **NO** ' She recoiled too. I guess the daughter didn't love the mother as much as the mother loved the daughter. Blue spoke next, a little timid but definitely with full confidence like she was sure of her answer but afraid of something too.

'I'll go.' Browns head swivelled to look at her sister with outrage.

' **Cortana**.' More confidence this time.

'I'll go.' Well, nothing like a bit of family drama. Brown looked ready to explode.

'You wanna go well, well, well FINE THEN. GO, GO THEN AND YOU TWO NEVER COME BACK.' Brown ran past me then out the door. Jacob came to crouch next to his only remaining daughter.

'You know this means we won't see each other for a very long time' Cortana nodded, with tears in her eyes. The barely audible _I know_ would have been heart warming if I even knew what that was like. Who knows, soon, maybe I will.

'You take care little Blue.' The girl nodded and Jacob turned to Halsey.

'You'll probably be gone by the time I get back so I'll say goodbye now. Goodbye Catherine' Halsey's sadness moved from her face to her voice.

'Goodbye Jacob.' On his way out he stopped next to me.

'If anything happens to that little girl then there will be no where you can hide from me _Fett_.' The venom in his voice was new.

'Or from Clan Keyes.' With that he left. Well, now the venom made sense. At least a bit. You see, about 12 years ago the Mandalorian Civil War ended with the defeat of the True Mandalorians to the Death Watch faction after 26 years of bloody conflict that spanned all of Mando Space. I fought in the tail end of the war but Clan Fett as a whole fought throughout on both sides of the conflict. The Death Watch tricked the Jedi into helping them finish the True Mandalorians off by pretending we had been killing civilians. The Keyes Clan belong to House Kryze, the winners of the Great Clan Wars which had ended only a few months ago. This war involved the Death Watch trying to usurp the Duchess after finishing with us, the _chosen_ leader who inherited the position from her dear old daddy when he kicked the bucket. At least he was a true warlord. But I digress, Keyes hates me either because I was on the side that _killed civilians_ or I'm on the side that tried to kill his family. See Keyes was one of the few tried and tested commanders on the New Mandalorian side. While the Death watch was filled with veterans of my war. Keyes had made a small but respected name as a naval commander in the Stark Hyperspace War and then went on to make an even bigger name for himself in the Great Clan War as a very capable commander. I actually felt a little bit of sweat on the back of my neck after I pieced it all together.

Halsey and Cortana had finished packing by the time I had finished reminiscing and so we left. As we approached the Slave 1 I asked Halsey something that had been bugging me for sometime.

'Why are you doing this?' She didn't need me to elaborate.

'My Spartans are Mandalore's next step. Our destiny as a people. Do not underestimate them.' A warning and a promise all in one.

'Spartans? You've finally named them?' She had been mulling this one over for sometime now.

'I felt it was appropriate.' Succinct. While the message was clear, the name fit, I didn't understand it.

'Appropriate? How?' A small nostalgic smile graced her lips. I didn't realise a women like her could smile so damn much. Then again this was the start of the culmination of her life's work and being reunited with her daughter will make even a women as cold as her smile some. I didn't expect it to last.

'You haven't heard the legend of the Spartan Clan of Malachor V?' I shook my head. 'Then maybe one day I'll tell you.' And with that the loading bay doors closed and it was time to head back to Kamino.


	2. Chapter 2

Jango POV

'Deep within the mountains of Malachor V there is a shrine. The shrine was built after the Great Galactic War between the Sith Empire and the Jedi Republic. During this war the Mandalorian Clans were scattered amongst the stars with no one to lead them. Eventually a rising new star appeared from the fighting pits of Geonosis. He won battle after battle until soon the people heard he wanted to reunite the clans, so they started to chant. Mandalore! Mandalore! They would scream at every one of his fights. Eventually this young and powerful Mando took the title of Mandalore and united his people in a common cause once more. War! He took his new army and entered the Great Galactic War on the side of the Sith against the Jedi and blockaded a major supply route known as the Hydian Way. It only last for a year before it was broken. The Mandalorian, knowing he needed to rally his people, organised the Great Hunt. This was a competition between Mandalorians to see who was the best, and so they only called for the best to participate. One Mando they called upon was called Leonidas. He too was from the fighting pits of Geonosis and knew of the Mandalore, which was why he suspected the Mandalore wasn't as great as he claimed to be. Leonidas and his Clan, the Spartans, found the Sith had orchestrated the rise of the ruling Mandalore and so Leonidas refused. He denounced the Mandalore and took his Clan of 300 strong to lay siege to a Sith Temple on Malachor V. Upon arriving at the Temple the Brave 300 quickly slew all within and then prepared to meet the Sith reinforcements. They used the ancient shields within the temple for protection and the ancient Sith Swords as melee weapons when their blaster ran out. And when the Sith arrived they were ready.

At first they tried to bring them back into the fold, a trained Mandalorian is something to be feared after all. When asked to return the Brave 300 denounced the Mandalore and claimed him as Dar'Manda, the greatest insult a Mandalorian can give. Then the Clan claimed Leonidas as the true Mandalore as he wished for his people to be free from Sith oppression, because he was a true Mandalore.

3,000 Sith faced the Spartans, outnumbering them and with more advanced technology and weapons, like Tanks and Starfighters. The siege lasted for 3 days before the Sith broke the Spartans and killed them to a man but not before the Brave 300 had killed over 5 times as many of their enemies. Less than half of the Sith forces went home after the Spartans slaughtered them and they lost after destroying the Temple they were sent to recover.

You are all the Children of Sparta, the descendants of Leonidas himself. And now, you will all follow in his footsteps. You will become the greatest warriors Mandalore has ever seen and lay down your lives to protect the people of Mandalore, all of them. Anything that threats a Child of Mandalore, even another Mandalorian, it is your duty to protect them. Like the Spartans of old, you too must face overwhelming odds to protect all the people of Mandalore, even at the expense of your life. Now, lights out at 2100 hours, which is in 9 minutes. Sleep well.' Halsey stood from the bed she was sitting on and made for the door. I moved to the side to let her pass and fell into step behind her.

'Why do you tell them the same story every night? It's been 3 months, just tell them another one.' I heard her dismissive snort. She was really starting to grate on my nerves.

'Because it's not about the story, teaching them their history or entertaining them, it's about making sure they understand the message of the story and take it to heart.' I figured that out myself. Every motherly thing she did she only did because it served another purpose not because she wanted to be their mother, no, that right was reserved for Cortana… Maybe John. That was Shev'la's new name. It turns out the kid didn't have anyone, grew up alone and raised by the House. He didn't say much so they called him Shev'la. Halsey named him John, the name she and Jacob decided on for her son if either of her twins were a boy. I think the name connection and the similar age, alongside her already peaked interest in the boy, lead to more genuine motherly feelings for him than the others. Her actions still had another motive to them, even when concerning John, and she did have motherly feelings for the other 74 but 74 is a big number and people only really connect to a small group of people. For Halsey, John was one of those people just like Halsey was one of those people for all 75 of them, just like me apparently, like some distant father figure.

'And what message is that?' She stopped and turned to fix me with a gaze so intense I could only listen and take every word to heart.

'The message, Jango, is that, together they can achieve the impossible. That they are all that they are the shield that all of Mandalore stands behind. That _they_ can face the galaxy if they stand united.' She wanted to create unity. All of her little soldiers working together for a common cause. Well, it was the true strength of our people. When a Mandalore calls his people together the Mandalorians have fallen upon this galaxy but only when we all work together can our handful of worlds hope to stand against the might of empires 10 times as large.

'So why do you always highlight the achievements of Mandalore the Lesser, why mention Leonidas and his greatness if you want them to work together as one?' Despite the fact that he gained the title through subterfuge he was still a Mandalore chosen by the people and Leonidas wasn't, even if he was know as Mandalore the True by some.

'So that they understand the folly of seeking personal glory like Mandalore the Lesser but understand that even as a group some will always be better than others, like Leonidas, and those standout individuals are to be revered and followed.' So that was it she wasn't just after a strong cohesive unit of the greatest soldiers the galaxy had seen, she was trying to shape a future Mandalore. She, like myself, wasn't happy with the current pacifist government of Mandalore. The one that was trying so hard to erase our past and our culture. But the thing is I am the rightful Mandalore and I get to name my successor _not her_. And the title of Mandalore belonged to my new son.

'I am the true Mandalore and I get to name my successor not you.' Her laugh was down right sinister. She didn't look surprised at the news of my title either. I should stop being surprised in her stead whenever I found out about something she knows but shouldn't. She isn't know in certain circles as Mother Whisper for nothing.

'You may name your son whatever you want. But it won't matter if he isn't strong enough to _keep it_?' My fists clenched and with my Crush Gauntlets you could hear the echo down the corridor. Halsey turned to walk away while I just stood there before turning around and walking the other way. I needed the longer walk.

* * *

Jango POV

It's been a rough 6 months. To be honest I'm surprised how little protest the children, the Spartans made during those first 3 months. Some distress and a lot of kids missing their parents. Halsey tried her best to make them comfortable and quell dissent which work for a bit but any consistent rebelling had Halsey isolating the children. In the later 3 months we had to use force to reduce rebelling, as Halsey wanted them to comfort and to rely on each other. Halsey made sure that she and I were never around when physical discipline was needed. Not because she couldn't stand it but to ensure that we didn't damage the parental bonds that were forming between us and the children. Those first 3 months Halsey read every report that came to her, now she's avoiding some of them. I took a look, reports of the clones and their families. Some survived longer than predicted, probably from parents trying to nurse them back to health. Halseys was getting too attached to the kids to be able to stomach it like she did in the beginning. We have also seen marked improvements within the children within the first 3 months of training. Some are even showing themselves to be capable leaders. 051, 092, 104 and 117. My money's on 051. Some of the other Mando trainers I've brought over to help from training the clones, when it finally happens, are of a similar mind. Halsey won't bet but if she did I already know who her money's on, sentimental bitch.

Halsey only ever calls them by name but to me there still numbers as they will never be true Mando'ade. Mandalorians are pure in strength, don't get me wrong Halsey's have the potential to be the best ever seen but they will be augmented just like the clones, and so, impure. My son will remain pure. The next 3 months saw much of the same but Halsey had started to tell them why they were here.

'You are to be the shield of Mandalore, its greatest warriors and protectors. Mandalore has grown weak, complacent. We thrive on conflict because it is through conflict that we improve, become more than we once were. Through pain we gain strength, through suffering we gain insight and through despair we gain clarity. With strength, insight and clarity we become stronger in our convictions and our purpose is made clear. You will suffer through the conflict set before you, the training we will provide you, so that you may see your true purpose to Mandalore and strengthen it. You will become the best but you must first suffer the worst.' She was laying it on a bit thick. Halsey didn't care about Mandalore, no way in hell. She cared if she was right. These kids weren't here to defend our people, now that they were no longer willing to fight for themselves, but to prove Halsey's gene theory and that her other augmentations were actually possible. As much truth as we can stomach my arse. She said that you know, _we are asking everything of them. They deserve as much truth as we can stomach to tell them._ She actually said that to me and expected me to believe her. No way. The worst part is that some of them believe her. One went up to her and asked if they were here to stop Mandos from hurting and killing each other and Halsey had the nerve to say yes. Unbelievable.

Halsey had also started the children's introduction to the Mandalorian culture. A few basic words, some war songs, Vode An, Rage of the Shadow Warriors and Kote Darasuum. This along with a basic version of the Resol'nare was meant to help boost cohesion and it was working. I might include one or two in the Clones flash training. She had even started teaching them the basics of the old Mandalorian religion. I didn't see why she bothered. We forgot about it for a reason after all but then again it was her project she was sabotaging so it wasn't my problem.

* * *

Jango POV

Lama Su got wind of this and ever the fan was eager to hear about it. So that's why we were back in this god's awful room that I spent far too much time in debating on how to train the clones and now Halsey wanted to start it again.

'Dr. Halsey. I hear you have a new proposal for us.' Halsey shifted her folders and produced several wads of paper, _paper_ , for us to read.

'I do President Su. If I may start with a question. What is the most dangerous part of a fight for a soldier?' That was new. Tactic Talk with the good doctor was rare. She had us it teach to her troops but wouldn't discuss it with us, even if we had amendments for her troops to learn. New fan-dangled nonsense she called it, wanted her troops trained in traditional military doctrine and tactics.

'Surely an ambush.' Considering he is making an army I'm glad he knows some of what they need to know. Halsey shook her head.

'You misunderstand. I am asking what part of a fight is the most dangerous to troops not which type of fight, which would indeed be an ambush.' Neither of us knew what she meant, and I was in an army once. She elaborated. 'There are 3 stages to any fight, Deployment, Contact and Extraction. Which of the 3 is most dangerous?' Lama Su was confident.

'Contact.' He was also an idiot.

'Deployment.' Halsey's inclined her head towards me.

'Jango is correct. In the Contact stage troops can fire back, even in an ambush. During Extraction there is only a 50% chance you will be under fire. But in the Deployment stage you are nearly always under fire and cannot always fight back.' She knew what she was talking about. 'My proposal is a new deployment method that will reduce the risk to troops that are being deployed onto a battlefield.' This was interesting. She started handing out the packets. The first page had the picture of a stylised skull and some letters on it, while inside was a mix of diagrams of her new toy and notes on how to use it. 'These are the plans for the ODP, the Orbital Drop Pod.' The What now?! Lama was just as alarmed.

'Orbital?!' Halsey nodded at him.

'Yes President. Orbital, as in, near orbit of a planet. These Pods have been designed to be fired from either the sides or keel of a ship. They are equipped with small gravity generators that will be used to make minor gravity field around each pod that will be used to fire the pods from the ships and then, if needed, can be used for course correction towards the planet. Once they have broken the atmosphere the gravity generators will adjust to the planet's gravity until they reach 3,000 feet before reducing the gravity around the pod and deploying the drag chute. At 50 feet the reverse thrusters kick in.' There was more to it, obviously, but it was unneeded for this meeting. Halsey was looking for funding not help in pod design. Her, I look back at the booklet, Orbital Drop Shock Troopers were ambitious. We could easily divert some troops from the ARC and Commando programs to this and there were some clear benefits even with the risk of pod failure and the fact that, statistically, some pods would be lost if there was Anti Air fire. Lama Su agreed. The following weeks were spent organising the production of the pods, the redesign of the cruisers, a thankfully quick adjustment, and the creation of the ODST's flash training regime.

* * *

Halsey POV

I had learned long ago that any information stored electronically can be retrieved electronically. Hell I help create some of the programs the Republic still use to this day so I know what I'm talking about, its why I preferred to use paper.

I have also learnt other interesting skills like the matrix mechanics of the socio- and politico-economic vectors of Mandalorian expansion. Basically, it meant that if the Jedi could predict the future with the Force then I could do it with Math. While my area of Economic Vectors centred around the Mandalorians specifically, I could apply my knowledge to other areas as a whole. For example, according to my calculations the galaxy was headed for a galactic civil war in about 10 years. This civil war had massive calculations to my predictions of Mandalore. Without the civil war Mandalore looked to be heading for an unprecedented time of peace, the only bumps in the road to this would be the countless rebellions that would spring up in the next 20 years. If the New Mandalorians won then unprecedented peace. If not then we were in for some rock years as we moved back to our warrior ways under an undeserving dictator. The thing was that the civil war swung things in favour of the rebel groups, particularly the Death Watch, then for the New Mandalorians as was previous. I needed a game changer. A new variable not previously there that could return our people back to the true path of Mandalore without setting us on the path of ruin that the Death Watch would take us on. I needed a new Mandalore candidate that would return our people back to their true warrior roots without them being a warmonger who went looking for fights. I needed to train my own Mandalore, and to be Mandalore they needed to be the best. So I designed my Spartans. One of them **will** be the new Mandalore and I know which one.

Some may wonder why I cared so much who ran Mandalore and her people, but they didn't know me, just the scientist Dr. Halsey. In truth I probably cared more for our future than any other Mandalorian because I could see where we were headed. The fact that this Clone army had been commissioned and that it was commissioned by a _Jedi_ was all the confirmation that I needed to know I was right. If my Math and the Force agreed with it than it was a certainty.

I put my all into this project. I selected the best candidates, created the best equipment and researched as much Mandalorian history as possible, no matter how obscure, so that I knew what to teach my Spartans. One of the main points of interest that I wanted to teach my Spartans over current Mandalorian teachings was about Religion. I didn't believe in it myself but those who did, truly believed, had many psychological benefits. They gain a greater drive to accomplish goals, a dedication to a higher purpose and the assurance of what became of them after death was a massive boon in a fight.

Currently Mando'ade were taught about the Manda. A collective oversoul that all Mando's joined after death but was denied to all Dar'Manda, this is why so many feared to be called such as it was seen as a fate worse than death. At our height we believed in 3 gods and a literal afterlife. The Gods were called Kad Ha'rangir, the god of war, whose tests and trials forced change and growth upon the clans he chose to be his people. Arasuum, the God of sloth, who sought to tempt the clans and drag them down into stagnation and idle consumption. And Hod Ha'ran, the trickster god, who sought to lead our people down a path that would lead us to destroy ourselves.

Arasuum and Kad Ha'rangir were locked in eternal conflict while Hod Ha'ran targeted the clans specifically. Kad Ha'rangir was thought to bring change and growth to the universe through his many vigour's, he was the main source for the Mandalorians views on growth through conflict. While, Arasuum was said to bring sloth and stagnation through peace. It was from him we gained our belief that peace meant we couldn't grow. Hod Ha'ran just brought greed through his use of manipulating our fortunes and making them fickle.

The problem was that we forgot that Arasuum and Kad Ha'rangir were locked in an _eternal_ conflict. We need the stagnation of peace to build a solid foundation on which to grow. Without the foundation anything we built, any growth we would gain through war would be lost and we would topple over and fall down farther than where we once stood. And this is what I would teach the Spartans, Growth through War, Stability through Peace.

I also needed to implant the idea that only they could achieve this and lead Mandalore on the right path, subtly of course. They needed to believe they had come to the conclusion that they needed to be the ones to lead the Mandalorians themselves. I would guide them to the answer while making them believe they had arrived there on their own. To do this I would need to discredit the New Mandalorian government and any rebels, especially the Death Watch, in their minds and then reinforce those beliefs until they will oppose both factions and usurp control for themselves, believing they are the only ones who have the best intentions of the Mandalorian people at heart.

Luckily I can easily twist the New Mandalorians to look like agents of Arasuum, the Death Watch would have been more tricky if the fool Tor Vizsla didn't directly reference Hod Ha'ran in his speech at the formation of the Death Watch. Now I can make it look like he is an agent of Hod Ha'ran that is trying to lead the Mandalorian people to ruin by fighting an eternal war that will destroy us as, once again, peace is needed to allow us to grow from conflict. The best part was that Tor was running on the manifesto that he was returning use to our warrior ways. I could use that to make it seem like he was tricking us by making us believe we were acting as true Mando's when we were in fact acting as agents of Hod Ha'ran and leading ourselves to our own demise.

The hard part would be ensuring that the Spartans didn't just go and start a coup of their own but instead took advantage of the rebel uprisings that I predicted from factions like the Death Watch. This would result in a bloodless coup, relatively, and will ensure that the factions would have become so weak fighting each other that it was impossible for them to stop my Spartans from rising to power.

I would have to be careful and it would have to be done over several years but who knows, I may even be able to convince or convert some of the members of Jango's Cuy'Val Dar. That Kal Skirata looked to be a good choice. He look to follow the Code well and lived by the tenants of the Resol'nare. But that was a thought for another time. There was some time before my Spartans will be needed.


	3. Chapter 3

Halsey POV

The trainees have experienced their first casualty today, but not among their ranks. It wasn't among the clones either but amongst Jango's Cuy'val Dar, an instructor. I didn't know his name but I do know that the clone trainee that did it only used his bare hands while the instructor was in full Mandalorian armour. Very impressive. The others want to lock him up but I have a different purpose for him, a better one. Now it was time to convince Lama Su and the Cuy'val Dar. I entered the room to hear a lot of shouting and debating, if it could truly be called such, about what to do with the boy. Technically he was only 6 but in reality he was barely 3 and a half years old. He was the same age as my Spartans when they started. Perfect.

The noise was starting to die down now that I was here which allowed me to start to make my case.

'We all know why we are here. The young trainee known as Kaddak.' The boy gave himself a name and he named himself after Kad Ha'rangir. A bit presumptuous if he hadn't beaten a trained Mandalorian in full armour to death with his bear hands, when he himself only had start training and was without any armour to speak of. It was almost like the Gods did exist and had sent me a sign that they were pleased with my work and so were providing me with an opportunity to better help my children. Spartans, they, are, _Spartans_ , not my children. Distance Halsey.

'And what do you want to do with this boy Dr. Halsey?' Lama Su was a very valuable ally here, especially because he was running this show. 'He is defective.'

'Defective yes but not useless. I want to create a new division especially for defective clones.' I could hear the murmurs throughout the room but I couldn't hear what they were saying. Would any agree that they had use beside studying what went wrong? 200,000 clones in the first batch. There were bound to be some defective clones. I could use them to fulfil a greater purpose.

'And what would this new division entail exactly?' Jango was being a bit confrontational and dismissive but then I had jumped all over his pet project and created a new division with the ODST's and had helped to improve the armour for all clones but quiet specifically the armour and weapons to be used by the ARC Troopers and the Commandos. This also required a slight tweak to their training. They would both receive basic ODP training so that they may use the pods but only in an emergency and I had changed their loadout for heavier weapons. The DC-15 series of rifles were all well and good for Jango's Clone army as he wanted to make them as accurate as possible but his elite troops like his ARC and Commandos and my ODSTs and Spartans were going to be accurate enough already that they would need weapons that hit harder than the DC-15's, luckily Mandalore has a lot of Gunsmiths so I didn't far to look for help with designing a new line of weapons, the M-series.

There was the standard M-series Pistol, the Magnum, as a side arm for all four divisions. The M-series Designated Marksmen Rifle, the DMR, was issued to the ARC Troopers. They were mainly scouts so they wouldn't need to engage up close. The M-series Individual Carbine Rifle, the Assault Rifle, was to be used by the Commandos as they would be engaging hordes of enemies so require the less accurate but more powerful rifles. The M-series Special Application Rifle, the Sniper Rifle, would be reserved for the best marksmen across all of the 4 divisions. Likewise, the M-series Anti-Vehicle Grindell Nonlinear Rifle, the Spartan Laser, was to be used by demolition experts for all 4 as well, alongside conventional rocket launchers. The M-series Submachine Gun, the SMG, was reserved for the ODST's due to the fact that it could be customised for nearly any scenario but its main attachment was a suppressor and with the ODST's dropping behind enemy lines to flank, ambush or assassinate enemy forces or leaders that was a massive help. None of the weapons were truly division specific but were to be found most commonly in the assigned divisions. Spartans of course could choose any they wish to accomplish their mission.

So, again, Jango was a bit defensive that I had so much say in what was essentially his project so he was a little sceptical of any of my new ideas.

'I wish to recruit any and all combat capable, defective clones to take part in a new division, code named, the Immortals. We are to outfit these small number of troops with the exact same armour and weapons and train them to move as a single entity. If a member of the group falls in battle then he is removed by a comrade and then replaced by one of the members held in reserve. This is done to give the illusion of a single, unkillable legion by making it impossible to tell when a member has been killed or injured. If they all look the same they can be replaced with no one being any the wiser and by hiding any reserves or, if truly needed, redressing a nearby clone trooper in Immortal armour we can keep the numbers the same so that when an enemy army sees an enemy division taking fire and their troops falling to the ground but seemingly getting back up again and returning to the fight we can create an _Immortal_ legion.' The room was silent.

I had always taken inspiration from history, especially when creating my Spartans, and I found that the old methods of war to be far superior to the current ones. Currently it was a numbers game. How many troops did you have? How many enemy troops were they worth? And then, how many troops do we need to deal with however many enemy troops? Long ago we used to try to use as little amount of troops as possible not as many. This Immortals idea was the culmination of several different accounts of survivors telling the tale of how the enemy never seemed to end. With technology at its current level it would be very easy to document these types of battles and disprove that the enemy never ended but we could still simulate such a feat using a small group and by removing the enemy's ability to count our fallen. It was a type of psychological warfare that was very rarely used in the modern galaxy but would be immensely helpful. Anything that was remotely close to psychological warfare, like burning towns and razing important buildings, were only really used after the war was finished and was used to quell any rebel activity. My Immortals were a risky idea but to the Kaminoans and the Cuy'val Dar these clones were dead anyway. They would need to have a very similar training to the rest of the army so that we could pull troopers from their ranks if necessary but require more specialised mental conditioning so that these Immortals were willing to just abandon the fallen to be take away and then to come back with another and carry on fighting. This meant little revision of these troopers training would be required and meant time and money could be saved on decommissioning the defective clones and then replacing them. I had a second objective in all of this, as I often do, and it involved the Spartans, as it often did.

You see I have come to realise these past few years that my Spartans can claim to be the Mandalore all they want but without a solid powerbase, people willing to support them, then they would fail as the clans would rally against them. My original plan was to build up sympathies from the clone army so they could support the Spartans but I have come to realise that while the clones are being trained by mainly Mandalorians only a few were actually teaching them to _be_ Mandalorian.

The ODST training included a full Mando culture training course but they won't be enough support. Kaddak present the perfect opportunity to increase the Spartans support base from just the ODST's. The fact that the Immortals and the clones would train side by side would result in more clones taking up the Mandalorian culture due to their basic introduction to it. Kaddak was proof that the clones wanted to be Mandalorian and that they were willing to research their people's culture, he had to have learnt about Kar Ha'rangir from somewhere and it wasn't from Jango's training and the Spartans were still in isolated training from the rest of the clones.

'And what about the boys punishment?' Ah yes. Many here wanted the boy punished for his actions to discourage any more attempts but that would be done through more gentle means.

'We will hold a funeral that all trainees that received training from the fallen trainer are to attend. This will show that what happened, however, unfortunate is something they must learn to cope with, a tragic accident, a casualty of war. There will always losses and they will need to accept this.' That and as the man was a Mandalorian we would be holding a Mandalorian funeral. Another culture lesson for the clones in our ways.

'That would include your Spartans and still doesn't address what is to be done with the boy.' Of course I knew that my Spartans would be required to attend if all who were trained under him had to attend. Sometimes my Spartans needed a heavy hand too and this trainer was very heavy handed. Kaddak killed him because he started pushing Kaddak to far and so the boy lashed out. This funeral was more about introducing the Spartans to the clones. Currently the Spartans are 9/10 years old and the clones are 6. Children like to look up to slightly older children as heroes and emulate them. I want 12 Spartans to be chosen to deliver a 12 gun salute to the dead instructor. It will show of their gun handling skills to the clones and help to build up the awe I want to instil in the clones. My Spartans are to be Mandalore's next step as a people so they need to inspire others to try to reach their level and I can start this with the clones. The instructors will be behind the body facing the children, Spartans at the front with the clones behind them, and then the adults will start the Mandalorian Funeral Chant. My Spartans will join in the chant and reinforce the hero worship and promote the Mandalorian culture in the clones again.

Dammit Jango, I am going to use whatever means possible to turn your clones into Mando's whether you like it or not. After all, making them Mando's only helps my Spartans when they are ready to take over.

I want John to bring the torch that will burn the body. He more than any of them must be seen as someone who truly believe in the Mandalorian ways, as no one will truly follow someone they cannot believe in and if the person you are following doesn't inspire you to follow something they are telling you to follow then it all breaks apart.

Once the ceremony is over my Spartans and the clones that are on the list of recruits for the Immortal Project, that were also trained by the dead instructor, will mingle with each other. This is to promote a bit of familiarity between them. They will need this in the future, if Lama Su supports my Immortal Project and my recommendations for the funeral, as they will be working closely with each other.

'I understand that my Spartans will be there and as for punishment, well, we are trying to make the children accept death. We cannot do that if we are making a big deal of the death that we are supposed to have accepted, so I say we label the death as an accident and leave it at that. After about a week or so, once the death has settled in, we announce the list of candidate that will be transferring to the Immortal Project. Leave Kaddak to somewhere in the middle so we don't bring attention to his name, so the others don't see this as a punishment or reward for his actions.' I could see this wasn't a popular choice. We were basically brushing it under the carpet and it didn't sit well with some of the others. Some, however, could see the merit in finding a way to use the defective clones to still fight rather than decommission them. Luckily Lama Su was one of those few. He gave me the go ahead for Project Immortal and for the funeral preparations. I had also expressed my interest in having the new legion work as direct subordinates to my Spartans. This would increase the exposure time between the two groups and allow my Spartans to be constantly near a support base for them. Lama gave my Spartans limit control over the new legion. In training they would take orders directly from the Spartans only in Operation training, out in the field, and any commands from the leader of the general or other leader in charge of the campaign they are apart of will always supersede that of the orders from the Spartans. This would reflect how they would operate in deployment as well, as just another special operations division like the ARC, ODST and Commando troopers. I had tried to swing them back under Spartan control by claiming that the Spartans needed experience leading as, per our agreement, Spartans were allowed to pull any troops needed to perform a mission from either the clones, ARC, Command or ODST forces so long as they didn't have any direct orders from the general in charge. By giving command of the Immortals to the Spartans there would be less need to pull troops from other divisions. Lama Su saw no reason why the Immortals should operate outside of the proper chain of command as they were technically under the command of the Spartans anyway, as the Spartans will be ranked above all of the clone trooper no matter their division. I left it at that.

* * *

Halsey POV

Tensions have been ramping up in the past year. It's been 4 years since that business on Naboo and tensions have only climbed within the Senate. My predictions place a massive secession taking place in about 4 years and then only 2 after that before war breaks out. The relationship between the clones and my Spartans had gone as well as hoped. These new, older recruits were all the clones could talk about. We limited interaction to promote a sense of joy whenever the clones could join in joint training sessions and by putting the Spartans in a leadership role they learned to look up to them as their superiors and as something to aim for. Lama Su and Jango are both pleased with the fact that the clones are performing above expectation. People in this day and age forget the psychological factors of war, both the positive and negative. My Spartans were their inspiration.

And my daughter it seems was their inspiration for individuality. Cortana was an inquisitive child and that meant while her curiosity could be sated, with new lessons and subjects for her to work on, she would quickly become bored again and look for new interests and for the past two years she has been visiting the clones and the Spartans for the past three. Oh she thought she was smart and had it hidden from me but I knew. Her brain was good for getting into areas she shouldn't be in but her feet gave her away, she was still too heavy footed, we could hear her from down any corridor. Her training was going well but Jacob always said Miranda was his daughter but Cortana was all mine, and that meant Cortana wasn't a fighter. She was good, better than me at her age, her father's influence no doubt, but she was never meant for a fighting role. Luckily for her the role I had in mind for her required little fighting but need her to have some connection to both the clones and the Spartans. I wanted her to be apart of my Special Operations Division. I plan to recruit some of the most promising talent in the galaxy to help coordinate my Spartans efforts while they are in the field. They would obviously work with the other Special Operatives from the ODST's, ARC and Commando's but I wanted Cortana to mainly focus on the Spartans, or more accurately one Spartan.

Cortana was teaching the clones and Spartans to explore their more creative side to help them distinguish themselves from each other. She was also the one who taught Kaddak about the Mando Gods, apparently she had been reading my notes. When the clones started to ask her about her hair and lips she told them that she and her sister were twins so she dyed her hair and lips so people would know which one she was. This lead to many of the clones to start marking their face and cutting and dyeing their hair. So far it wasn't permanent but by the end of training I expect it will be.

Speaking of my daughters escapades, she was on one now. I knew where she was as I knew the Spartans schedule and due to the strictness of their schedule she learnt it too. We wanted to keep the Spartans on a strict regime that has allotted time for different activities, what we taught them during those sessions may have changed but the length of each session stayed the same. Right now the Spartans were on Recreational Yard Use. There were some gardens indoors, as we couldn't take them outside, that we used to allow the Spartans to _play_ together. We called it play but the equipment in the garden was the same as the ones used in training. It was more like an optional assault course. Some didn't take this chance to challenge each other and instead played an improvised King of the Hill game. John played this for the first year, 12 straight wins was his best record in a single day, only Fred, Kelly and Jerome ever gave him a challenge but that didn't mean the others never tried, Spartans were taught to overcome any obstacle after all. He stopped playing 3 years ago but the others still knew he was the undisputed king, I even heard the other Spartans compare his achievements to Leonidas. It seems my subtle influences were taking root, they were starting to look at John as their leader, and one who would become their Mandalore.

I came to a stop at the observation window that overlooked the Yard. The Spartans like it when I came to check up on them during Yard time, it was still playtime to them as, even though they were still doing drills, it wasn't over seen by an instructor. I think leftover feelings of parents watching over them as they played back home have transferred to me whenever I take the time to watch over them. To be honest it did make me feel like a mother when I stood here watching over them.

There she was. Cortana was sitting in one of the trees in the Yard. She liked to do that sometimes, she would even hide in bushes, and John, as he had everyday for the past 3 years, came looking for her. Everyday John would come looking for her after they met on that first day. Sometimes if Cortana was feeling especially fiendish she would sneak between hiding spots to make it more of a challenge for him. In reality she made it easier as he could hear her better but he played along until he found her or she got bored of waiting. John never hide from her, he would search for her anywhere, never letting her go until he knew she was safe, but he never hid from her. I think that's the part Cortana liked the most. John would indulge her wants but his wants were just to spend time with her, my work kept me busy so I didn't have nearly enough time for her but John dropped everything when she was around. She's the reason he stopped playing King of the Hill.

This little corner of the yard was avoided by the others, not because they didn't like it or were warned away, but because their respect for both John and Cortana was large enough that this little collection of trees was their patch of the Yard and unless someone was to come and get the pair then no one went into their patch. They didn't just spend time with each other though. Cortana liked to drag John back to the others so they could mingle with the other children. Mostly they would talk with the others, got to know each of them, but occasionally they would join in the other games. One time Cortana wanted to play King of the Hill, because she knew John was good at it and she wanted to show off her best friend, it was going well till Cortana tried her hand at it. John sort of snapped. The Spartans weren't taught restraint so when it was Cortana turn she got hurt and Fred, the current King at the time, was the one to hurt her leg. John sprung into action and dislocated Freds jaw with a right hook from Fred's blindside. Fred dropped to the ground staring at John in shock. John took a second to snap out of his own shock before going to help Cortana. As they were leaving Cortana reassured Fred that it was all okay before they reached the door. After handing Cortana to the medic he and Fred shared mutual glances before nodding to each other. I think that was when Fred started to respect John so much, he knew that John would fight anyone to protect his own, even another Spartan.

I think the fact that I was teaching them that they were Mandalorians, and that to save Mandalore they may have to kill other Mandalorians, lead to Freds decision, as he saw that John was truly willing to go to the lengths needed. Fred became Johns firm second in command that day. Fred is a good leader but he _always_ deferred to John, even when John wasn't leading the exercise he would look to John to confirm the orders of the assigned leader. John always did, he was good at putting his faith in others, but Fred always asked. Freds staunch loyalty was a major factor in the the way the others viewed John as well.

* * *

Halsey POV

It had been 6 years since the start of the Project and Jango's clones were finally putting their physical conditioning and flash training together by going through war games. The ARC troopers were now entering Specialised training and clones were being selected for ODST and Commando training. The Spartans had been running war games for some years now and were beginning to get ready for some real world experience. Jango was still taking some bounty hunting jobs so I asked him to select some jobs for the Spartans, just some small time jobs for the newer bounty hunters so that we could ease the Spartans into it. We were assigning the Spartans into pairs and equipping them with some scaled down basic clone trooper armour. Cortana was also going, to even the numbers, but she was going to play a supporting role for John. He was to be the only Spartan out in the field on his own but Cortana was to be in the field with him on occasion, close enough for technical support like slicing, logistical support or even to direct John in the right direction. Basically they were all getting an in field chance to practice what they've learnt. We weren't ready yet, the armour would take about 6 months with another 3 for the Spartans to get some basic training in the armour and customise it for their liking, but we were getting there.

Overall everything was going well but I was finding that while I had access to the basics about the clone army I was sorely lacking in true details. I was looking through some of the gene augmentation the Kaminoans used with the clones to see if I could replicate it when it was time for the Spartans augmentation process in 2 years but I found that they had modified the clones to make them more loyal, unthinking. That didn't sit well with me.

It may seem hypocritical but to me there was a clear distinction to me between forcing someone to do someone and convincing them to do it. The Kaminoans were forcing the clones to obey and they knew it, this would create resentment and eventually rebellion. Slaves in the outer rim are beaten into submission and give bomb chips so they don't rebel but there are still slave uprisings. You could only suppress someone for some long till they turned on you. That's why we weren't brainwashing the Spartans, it would have been quicker and easier but they wouldn't have fought nearly as hard as they do now if they were forced to do it. My Spartans wanted to fight because we made them want it not because we forced them to do it.

Then their was our mysterious benefactor. This inhibitor chip of his was an extra measure too far and it raised my suspicions. The Jedi didn't ask for the gene manipulation to make the clones more loyal but he was dead. The gene manipulation was suggested by the Kaminoans, and Jango agreed, but this benefactor just happened to have an inhibitor chip. Either he was informed about the project by the Jedi before his death or they found out and was responsible for the Jedis death. The second was far more likely as the Jedi didn't ask for any ways to ensure clone loyalty beyond training them. If this had gone through the clones would have been just as loyal as a regular army without the risk of having recruited enemy agents as we could ensure that the clones were all outside of enemy influence, but by forcing loyalty we increase the risk of defection. The Jedi would have realised this, at least it would have been his reason if Jedi weren't such bleeding hearts that he would have dismissed forced loyalty as immoral.

My conclusion was that someone took over the production of the clone army and they had their own goals for this coming war. Now the question was how did they know about the coming war. There were 3 options Math, like me, the were orchestrating the start of the war or through the Force. I don't know which option I preferred. Math meant a level of genius equal to my own and who knows what they would be capable if the were at my level. Orchestrating the war meant they had their own goals for the clone army other than the defence of the Republic, sort of like me again I suppose. The Force was perhaps the worst option as it meant that the Sith had returned once again. It wasn't impossible, the Sith had returned several times in the past. Anyone of those options were dangerous but all of them meant one thing, I needed to see that chip.

Luckily I had doctorates in both biology and electronics, specifically droids and AI but there was a lot of crossover, and my patient has just arrived.

'Kaddak, you got into another fight I see. What was it this time?' Kaddak refused to go to any of the doctors on Kamino, said they weren't Mandalorian and that was reason enough, I tried pointing out that there were several Mandalorians trained in medicine and that I myself wasn't. He just said that they didn't care about the Gods or even the people of Mandalore so he refused them, even if they knew how to fight like a Mandalorian. That's what it took in Kaddaks mind, you at the very least had to be trained as a Mandalorian and care about the Mandalorian people as a whole or you had no right to call yourself one. The good Mandalorians were the ones who followed the Gods and those chosen by Kad ha'rangir were to be respected above all else. His devotion to the Gods caused him to clash regularly with his trainers and resulted in more than a few beatings. He was even starting to convert the Immortals, the were becoming fanatics like him but only he spoke out, they saw him as a sort of high priest due to his name being Kaddak, they forgot he chose the name himself. I wasn't going to dissuade them, in fact I encouraged it, as it increased their devotion to the Spartans that they saw as the true descendants of Kad ha'rangir, like my Spartans were some sort of demigods. Jango had called me Mother Whisper one time due to me giving him some surprising information that he would need for his next hunt and one of the Immortal boys heard him. They knew I wasn't the mother of the Spartans so could never figure out what role I played for the Gods and once they heard me be called Mother Whisper they thought I talked with the Gods and that was why I was chosen to lead and take care of the Spartans, so I could relay Kad ha'rangirs plans for his children to the Kaminoans and lead them down the right path. I wasn't going to tell them they were wrong. But this also lead to Kaddak only accepting my medical assistance. We talked a lot, he saw it as me telling him the will of the Gods so that he could tell the Immortals but in reality I was just telling him what I thought he needed to know so as to increase their devotion to the Spartans. I never expect this level of devotion from them when I suggested the Immortal Project but I couldn't be happier with the results.

'Walon Vau.' Ah, enough said. Walon Vau came from a family of religious devoutness and grew up as one himself. When the Immortals started showing more fanatical tendencies Walon Vau demanded to take over their training, I seconded his recommendation. He was a follower of the Gods but had only come into his faith recently. His father used to beat him when he was younger and Walon used this in his training of the Immortals. You go back to what you know I suppose.

'You have to know the limits of your physical and mental endurance, so you can recognize them and pass beyond them. This is why I will push you beyond any suffering you can imagine. You will not give up and die like lesser men; you will not crack up like lesser men; you will not lose heart in the direst circumstances like lesser men. And you will be the last men standing when the weaklings have opted to do the easy thing and die.' This was his little speech to the immortals. It was along the same vein of thinking for why I was pushing the Spartans so hard, the harsh training would make them better. The Immortals didn't complain, in fact they relished it. They viewed Vau as a true devotee who understood the ways of Kad ha'rangir and they would follow his training with a fervor not seen in the other clones. The harsh training also gave the boys a stronger connection to the Spartans, having shared in the same harsh suffering, but in every match up between the Spartans and the Immortals, the Immortals always lost, another reason in their mind why the Spartans were the children of Kad ha'rangir.

Walon pushed the boys hard and one of his favourite methods was to make them fight. Before each fight he offered them a choice, fight each other or fight him. Kaddak, the fool, always chose to fight Walon and this was the result.

'Well you have a nasty split on your head this time but it doesn't look deep enough to scar this time like some of your others.' Kaddak had a few scars on his face and all over his body. The ones on his face were from training but the ones on his body were his own doing over the past several years. Every time he started learning a new skill that he felt could be used in combat he carved Kad ha'rangirs name into his body, luckily none of the others took it this far, they could at least recognised the difference between what the _Gods_ told them to do and what Kaddak had decided to do himself. But his decision to carve the name into his skin earned a lot of respect from the other Immortals.

'I will have to put you under to ensure that the Bacta treatment is complete.' He just nodded and allowed me to fix him up again. Now that he was under it was time to see what that chip was exactly.


	4. Chapter 4

John POV

She confused me. Made me feel things I had no name for, distracted me from things I should be doing and made me want to stop whatever I was doing at the time to spend time with her.

I loved looking into her eyes. The blue coloured everything about her, her hair, her lips and her words. When she spoke you understood her through what her eyes were telling you not her lips. I could see when she was happy or excited or silly. I could see when she was angry or sad or upset. I loved it when she had mischief in her eyes the most. The little glow her eyes took, the way they sparkled, just drew me in. She distracted me. And I hate distraction but I could never hate her, hence the confusion.

'What do you think of me?' We could never really talk like this back on Kamino. On Kamino someone was always watching, even if it was just Halsey, so while we had a lot of freedom to say anything we, the Spartans, kept any true wants and desires to ourselves. Our individual goals and wants were the most precious thing to us. We would sacrifice everything to achieve to restore Mandalore, don't get me wrong, but even Spartans dream. And our dreams were the thing most precious to us.

'You're my gift.' She turned away from the controls at that. I was a decent pilot, we all were, but she was the best at it, I'm sure they would let her pilot a cruiser if they didn't already have something in mind for her.

'What do you mean?' I thought it would be obvious but I explained anyway.

'The Gods give us tests, Kad Ha'rangirs is the training we endure, and you were the test given to me by Hod Ha'ran. When someone completes their test they are given a gift by the Gods and you are the gift Hod Ha'ran gave to me.' She was one of his pixies I was sure of it. Hod Ha'ran wasn't an evil God but found most of his fun by playing with the fates of others, building them up and then crashing them back down. He liked to make people want something so badly that when they finally had it, the thing they want so much, it only brought about their own ruin. If you could resist his temptations he rewarded your fortitude. The pixies were said to be his beautiful, flying helpers filled with playful mischief, that tempted many a Mando to the path of ruin. They were also speculated to be his children but there were various conflicting stories on their true origins. Cortana was a pixy I was sure of it. When I first brought my suspicions of her true nature to Halsey she just laughed at me. When I tried to explain that Cortana was the ultimate distraction and that whenever she was around my eyes would be drawn to her lips, her hair and her eyes because the colour of them called to me she just laughed harder and said that Cortana was her daughter. The fact that Halsey was laughing so much and that pixies were known to cause mischief wasn't helping Cortana's case. Besides if the Spartans are the children of Kad ha'rangir than why couldn't she be a child of Hod ha'ran.

'I was your test was I? And your reward?' The mischief was back in her eyes and it drew me in. I hated it, what she did to me. I nodded.

'Yes. You were sent to distract me and I have resisted your temptations, staying true to my training and gave my lessons my all and wasn't distracted by you, so Hod ha'ran gave me a gift.' She got up from her chair and sat in my lap.

'That's very romantic you know, calling a girl a gift from the Gods.' Her hands trailed over my chest, and Halsey said she wasn't a pixy. I swallowed, hard.

'Of course. The stories always have a gift for the one who overcomes the trails, given to them by the God who set the trails. Hod ha'ran hasn't given me anything else so you must be the gift.' My logic was sound, one of Hod ha'rans minions was a grand gift and with how hard she was to resist Cortana was an appropriate gift for the challenge set before me. Her hands stopped and a look entered her eye. Fond exasperation? I don't know.

'John. When a girl calls you a romantic you just accept it as a compliment and you don't ruin it by saying it's only romantic because it was the only choice available.' Her smile hadn't left, I was glad for that as I hate it when shes sad, and it's worse when I'm the cause. I didn't get it but I've learned to just nod and accept that Cortana knew what she was talking about. When I asked Halsey what I should do if I ever found myself in a similar situation she said I had probably done the right thing the first time, it had worked well so far. She got up from my lap and went back to the pilot's seat. She turned her head back to me.

So this mission is another test than.' I nodded, not sure what she meant. 'I guess if the stories _always_ have a gift for the hero when they overcome the trail then there will be one for you when we're done here.' I thought about it and nodded.

'I will finally be able to become a Spartan Warrior, my final trail is soon.' Just one more year than we will face our toughest challenge yet, augmentation. Those who passed would finally be able to call themselves a Spartan Warrior rather than just a Trainee. There had been some deaths in training so far, none of the Spartans luckily, but Halsey said some would fail this next trial and we had to prepare ourselves for us to lose some of each other. Cortana's smirk was back.

'I thought that was your reward for passing all of Kad ha'rangirs tests and his training, this is a different trial so you need to have another reward for passing.' Cortana didn't believe in the Gods, she much preferred science, but I only knew how to fight and Mandalorian worshipped fighting wars, it was the way to honour the Gods. Cortana never took my faith but she never looked down on me for mine, I think she even respected my convictions. She liked to call me lucky but I just thought it was Hod ha'rans favour, I did look after one of his pixies after all.

That was the mission Halsey gave to me years ago. Halsey could speak to the Gods, Kaddak told me so, and she must have spoken to Hod ha'ran who gave me the task of looking after one of his pixies ,after he gifted her to me. It would be my longest trial but so long as I kept her safe then I would have Hod ha'rans favour, in other words luck. That didn't mean I wouldn't have looked out for her if the it wasn't the Gods will, I would as Fred can attest to, but I always valued efficiency and this was just like completing two tasks at once, looking after Cortana because the Gods wanted to keep her safe and looking after her because I wanted to keep her safe

This new mission Cortana and I were on to Coruscant was given to me by Halsey, so it must be a new trial from the Gods, and so I suppose it made sense I would receive a new gift once it ended. Cortana spoke up again.

'Shall I give you your gift once we have finished?' I thought about it. Cortana was the daughter of Hod ha'ran and Dr. Halsey so the Halsey half of her should allow her to talk to the Gods. This meant that she more than anyone would know what gift the Gods wished to give me. So, I nodded. The sinister smirk that broke across her lips sent a cold chill down my spine. The worst thing was I really liked that smirk and the chill, more than I probably should.

* * *

Halsey POV

Our mission was to track down and kill a pair of racketeers. It would be our first real life combat mission. Halsey had assigned all of the Spartans into pairs, one boy and one girl, and had each pair perform missions selected by Jango. Some of the others, like Fred and Kelly or Jerome and Alice, had already done a mission. Today it was our turn.

The client who hires us want the racketeers brought in as they thought it best to payout once to stop the racketeers rather than repeatedly pay them off, a smart choice. Once we caught them we could do as we wished with them so long as they wouldn't be able to come back to Coruscant and start harassing the client again. One was a human, the brains of the operation, and the other was a trandoshan, the muscle. We were trawling through the under-city of Coruscant, the birthplace of the Taung, the original Mandalorians. If they could see it now I wonder what they would think? With planets like this it was no wonder Hod ha'ran was so powerful. At first it looked like a place of Arasuums influence but soon you realise there is no peace on this planet just greed and fickle fortunes. The people of Coruscant were so weak willed that when Hod ha'ran played his games they jump at the chance and then they whined and threw tantrums when he took it away. This was the very reason people need to remember the Gods, just because we forgot them doesn't mean they forgot us, just because we don't interact with them doesn't mean they don't interact with us. The more aware people are of the Gods and their nature the better they can live their lives in accordance to the Gods will.

Cortana wasn't going to help with the fighting, thankfully, she was to be my support. She would slice when I need it and give me directions when I needed it. Basically we were both on a practise run to see how we would do when we were finally assigned our roles. If communication was ever lost with Command then Cortana would have to know how to operate in the field and I would have to be able to cover for her.

So far our little setup was working. The client only knew the general location of the racketeers so we were looking at possible hangouts for the pair so we started with the bars, Cortana's suggestion. Cortana had spliced into _somewhere_ and found a map of all minor crime dens and bars and she was directing us to the closest one. Halseys augmentations helped to remove toxins from our bodies so the Spartans couldn't get drunk, Cortana was still susceptible though, making bars the best place to start. I would never be off my game and I wouldn't stand out by not drinking.

Halseys hormonal and gene augmentations had allowed the Spartans to reach the average height of an adult, around 6 foot, even though we were only 13. This combined with the clone armour that I had repainted help me to blend in. I used green as it meant duty and it had a black trimming that stood for justice. Cortana wanted my trimming to be purple as purple meant luck but the colours didn't match.

'Hey. Hey you. Vode.' I turned to look as another Mandalorian was flagging me down, trying to get me to come over. I went over, making sure to pick up my drink and helmet before leaving. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Cortana shift in her seat at another table. She hadn't taken off her blue with a white trim helmet so as to not draw attention with her hair colour. I could tell she was still keeping an eye on me. Blue meant reliability and white meant purity, they summed her up well. I sat down across from the Mando and noticed two more on either side of him. Gold with red, then grey with green and finally orange and pink, the last one didn't look too good but I understood the meaning. Gold meant vengeance while red was meant to honour a parent, grey meant mourning, usually a loved one or a lost love and orange and pink meant a lust for life and respect, well, respectively.

'That's a unique style of armour there vode, where are you from and which clan?' The Spartans were informed of their true place of birth and clan before we left Kamino on our assignments but it didn't really matter to us. Kamino was our home and Sparta our clan.

'Concordia and House Vizsla. My names Shev'la.' Halsey said a Mando name would help me fit in. It fit somehow. The Mando whistled, he sounded impressed.

'That's some pedigree. Only warriors live on Concordia now and from House Vizsla no less. What brings someone like you to Coruscant? I haven't seen your armour before so you must be new.' They didn't look to be after anything but I couldn't be too careful.

'I'm here for a bounty.' The man snorted.

'I know that, you looked too tense for a man just enjoying a drink. And the name makes sense too. A man of few words hey.' I just nodded.

'Guess I should have expected that. Listen you're new here so let me help you out. It's part of the code after all.' One of the 6 tenets of the Resol'nare after all. I will open my home to another who has nothing and share with him what I have and he shall ask for no more than he needs, it was part of the tenant that command Mandalorians to lookout for their clan and family and to do anything to insure their welfare. Mandalorian culture put a massive emphasis on family and family helps family after all.

'I'm looking for a set of racketeers, one human and one trandoshan.' The others shared a look between each other.

'You had best hurry then. The pair you are looking for are called Tolokai and Vesk. They aren't a subtle pair and are very low level, perfect for a new guy like you, but last I heard of them a pair of Jedi were looking for 'em, like I said not subtle. Low level guys like this don't usually attract high level attention like Jedi, if they ever attract such attention at all, but when they do it's usually from a Padawan Master pair and the last update on them was that they were getting really close. Here's where Tolokai and Vesk usually hangout but you had best hurry if you want to get them first.' I thanked the trio for their help and left. As I was making my way to the pair of racketeers Cortana informed me of my triple tail and I sent one click back to tell her Received. They didn't look to be involved with the pair, why warn me about the Jedi if they were, but seemed to be more curious about the new kid on the block, me. I think they wanted to see how I would handle my first bounty and, if it came to it, how I would handle the Jedi. I told Cortana not to worry about my tails and to wait near the coordinates with the speeder. I didn't need to use due to the closeness of the area.

It was only a couple of minutes before I rounded the corner in the general area of the pair and I spotted them. They were harassing a Ithorian selling his wares, but the Ithorian was on the edge of an open plaza so the pair were in full view of the people, who had formed a sort of circle, a big circle, around the pair. No wonder the Jedi were after them if they were this overt. I pushed my way through the crowd and stepped out of the throng of people to confront the duo. I pulled out my blaster and set it to stun. It was one of Halsey's M-series Magnums and I had an Assault Rifle on my back, just in case. The trandoshan noticed me first and let the Ithorian drop to the floor and started to raise his rifle at me. I wasn't worried. The human picked up a fruit from the stand and started to eat it while turning his attention to me. It was meant to be a show of dominance, a way of saying that he was in control and could do whatever he wanted to. To me, it just occupied one hand and so reduced his response time, trandoshan first than.

'And who the hell are you?' The man took another bite while the trandoshan just hissed. There was no point in talking or telling them who I was, I had a job to do and I didn't need to explain myself to them. I fired at the trandoshan and he just dropped, apparently expecting me to talk rather than shoot. Tolokai's eyes widened in shock and drop the fruit and started to reach for the blaster on his hip giving me plenty of time to hit hit with a stun bolt as well. It was over in less than five seconds and the air felt still. The crowd apparently shocked that it was over so fast. I don't see why, there was no point wasting time. I had just grabbed the two by the collar and started to walk away to meet up with Cortana when I heard someone call after me.

'Hey!' I turned around before dropping the pair. Cortana called me lucky but if I was really lucky I would have made it back to her without having to contend with the Jedi.

'Those two are our responsibility.' The arrogance of the boy was astounding. The braid gave it away that he was a Padawan which made the robed man behind him his Master. The Master just looked embarrassed with the way he held his head in his hand but the boy wasn't backing down.

'Hand the two over immediately by order of the Jedi Council.' The Master looked ready to step in before I retorted.

'No.' That brought them both up short. I made my point clear, anything more would have been unnecessary. The boy took out his saber.

'Hand them over or I shall remove you as you are obstructing justice.' The Master's eyes sharpened on the back of his Padawans head.

'Padawan…' The warning in his voice was apparently ignored by the boy, who felt I had taken too long in handing the pair over, ignited his saber and rushed me with an overhead strike. There was power behind it, no doubt enhanced by the force, but the boys form was still unrefined. It was a sloppy overhead strike from the fifth form Djem So, also called Shien when used against blasters. The Padawans grip was good, he knew how to handle the blade, but his technique was terrible. Padawans usually learn Shi Cho as younglings and then learn their Masters preferred style before choosing their own, with the Padawans age, about 17, I would say that this was his chosen style which meant I didn't know which one the Master used if it came down to a fight with him. I caught the boys hands while they were over his head with my right hand, the hilt between my index and ring fingers. I quickly adjusted my grip and ripped my hand back while spinning to my right and, using a sidekick with my right foot, sent the boy flying past his Master. His Master turned to attend to the boy and I went to collect my bounties.

'I'm afraid I must ask for that back.' I turn. The Master has his blade in hand. I look at the blade in my hand. The Gods give us gifts for overcoming trials and this… this blade was the gift I received from Kad ha'rangir for defeating a Jedi. My first mission and I had already shown the fruits of my labour, that Halsey was right, we are the best the galaxy has to offer, better than even the Jedi. And now they wanted me to give it back. You don't just throw away a gift from the Gods, it's just not done. No, if he wants it back then this _Jetii_ will have to come and take it. I ignite the blade. Halsey wanted us to be better than the Jedi and so she taught us their techniques, the 7 saber forms, as it was her belief that the more knowledge you had on the enemy the easier it was to beat them. I held no illusions about which of us would win, he had far more experience than me and his skill with Force Enhancement would more than match my own basic chemical augments not to say anything about his skill with a lightsaber, but I was not giving up this blade without a fight.

We were all taught the basics of the all 7 forms and I had an above average use of Soresu and it was coming into use now. The Master moved first. He was utilising Ataru, a highly aggressive form that relied on flips to manoeuvre around your opponent. My eyes and reflexes were enough to hold him of but to save myself from some of his strikes I had to back away and give ground. We were rapidly approaching the fallen criminals I had dispatched earlier which meant I had to change the pace of this conflict. I was good at Soresu, better than some of the other Spartans but not as good as even more of them, but it was Juyo where I performed best. Juyo required an inner focus that many of my brothers and sisters lacked but I was solid, unflinching, in my resolve. I like the form for its aggressiveness as it meant I could finish a fight quickly. The major downsides were that if your inner focus was disrupted by feelings, things like anger or even happiness, any at all, then it was easy for even moderately skilled swordsman to overpower the form. The second weakness was that it was extremely tiring. My augments allowed me to last longer than most making the Juyo a viable form for me but it was my stoic demeanour that allowed me to use it so well, I wasn't a master but I was well on my way. It was only Cortana who could knock my concentration and so I could use Juyo in a way no other Spartan could.

My turn from Soresu to Juyo was so sudden that the Jedi Master was temporarily on the back foot. While he quickly recovered the Master was still giving me ground, not because he was being overpowered, but because he was trying to wear me out. The Masters true Form was obviously Soresu and he performed it better than any of the Masters in the Holovids that I saw of the Form. If I didn't have my chemical augments I would have tired far too quickly against this opponent as there was no chance I was going to break his defence. Luckily the Jetii didn't realise that I was so enhanced and could last for some time even using a Form like Juyo.

Once we were far enough away from the pair of bounties I used the in helmet radio to contact Cortana.

'Cortana, I have engaged the Jedi pursuing the targets. Both are unconscious so rendezvous at my location and take the targets for extraction.' Her worry was evident.

'Are you okay?' I reassured her while keeping as much concentration on my opponent as possible.

'I'm fine. The Padawan is disabled and I have disarmed him. I am using his lightsaber to engage the Master but his skill in Soresu is too much and I am unable to break his defence. Take the targets and fallback. Once you are a reasonable distance away I will break off engagement and retreat back to the ship.' I could hear her speeder pull up behind me and dismount. When she started to drag the bodies onto the speeder the Jedi Master realised what was happening and planted his feet, unwilling to give me more ground and more further away from Cortana. Once Cortana was done loading the bodies and was away I kept up the fight for a few moments longer before deactivating the saber in the middle of a shoulder strike at the Master. He raised his blade to meet mine but my now deactivate blade allowed me to roll myself around my opponent and under his blade. He turned swiftly and brought his saber to bare, expecting me to attack from behind, but I instead gave a burst of speed and ran into the crowd. The Master started to give chase but stopped before getting too far from his Padawan.

I sped around the corner and didn't stop until I reached the ship. Upon entering I signalled Cortana to take off while I went to check on the prisoners. She took off as fast as possible and took us out of orbit. The Jedi luckily didn't have any reinforcements to chase me down so our ship was unidentified and we could slip out of the system quietly.

After Cortana took us into hyperspace she got up from her chair and planted herself in my lap again. She took off her helmet and dropped it to the floor and then took off mine and kissed me on the lips. She disengaged before I could respond. My mouth was dry.

'What…?!' She gave me a smirk.

'Your gift your passing your trial.' With that she put my helmet back on. This was something I was thankful for as I like wearing the armour, it felt like a second skin, and definitely had nothing to do with the rising heat on my cheeks. Once my helmet was secure she took herself out of my lap and dropped into the pilot's seat. She looked like a loth-cat with the massive grin on her face. I found I had a small one too.

* * *

Obi-Wan POV

I didn't relish what had happened but I did like watching the boy squirm. It reminded me so much of my own time under Council scrutiny alongside Master Qui-Gon.

'So you started hostilities with this unknown individual Padawan Skywalker?' I had given the boy the same speech about the lightsaber being his life as when he lost the other two, we were onto number four now, but he was as dismissive then as he was know. He only saw the lightsaber as a weapon and not the dangerous tool and massive responsibility it was. Every Jedi carried with them a device that could cut a sentient in half and burn through nearly all materials allowing us to go anywhere or kill anyone with enough time. But Anakin only saw the fact that he could use it to cut down his enemies. I hope this experience will teach him some humility and that the lightsaber may be one of the best _tools_ in the galaxy but it was not infallible.

'Yes Master Windu.' Master Windu was never a big supporter of Anakin's and this incident wouldn't help. He saw Anakin as to old to start training and too impulsive to be a Jedi and this incident was proving him right.

'And did you ask for any identification, did you look for any reason that this individual could have a legitimate reason for apprehending the duo you were sent to retrieve?' Anakin lifted his head from the submissive bow it was in before. Here we go again.

'Master Windu he refused to hand over the…' He got no further before he was cut off.

'And he may have had a legitimate reason for doing so. We are Jedi Padawan, not police or soldiers, but peacekeepers. Our main duties are to use politics to help reach a compromise and keep the peace not to start hostilities and break it.' Anakin was struggling to reign his anger in. He felt that Jedi had supreme authority over all others in matter of keeping the peace which, in his mind, include the apprehension of criminals. To Anakin by refusing to hand over the two the armoured individual was declaring himself as an enemy and once Anakin sees an enemy he attacks. Luckily he kept his mouth shut this time but he was still fuming from the dressing down he received.

'Master Kenobi what can you tell us about this individual.' I step up next to Anakin and place a hand on his shoulder. It was a good reminder for him as he started to regain control of his emotions.

'The individual was a skilled combatant. When he first engaged the two criminals we were sent after he wasted no time in talk with them. His shots clean and precise leaving no time for his opponents to retaliate. He has obviously had extensive training with firearms of many different type. This is found in his skill we saw with the pistol and the carbine rifle attached to his back. Both the weapons were new and followed a design I have not seen before but were obviously made for power. This only further highlights his skill as his accuracy with heavy duty weapons should be reduced but I found him to be far better than most pirates. The armour was new also but from the colours, t-shaped visor and general look of it I would say the armour was a new variation of the current Mandalorian armour.' This sent murmurs through the Council. They had already suspected the individual of being Mandalorian due to the fact he was good enough to match a Jedi and the Mandalorians were one of the few true Jedi Killers left. This coupled with my _experience_ with Mandalorians left little doubt in their minds.

'The individual seemed to be non-threatening before Anakin first engaged and simply wished to leave with his bounty, a professional. After he disabled Anakin and took his lightsaber…' Anakin's shoulders bunched up, angry over the humiliation he had been dealt to have been defeated so easily. Anakin took pride from his prowess with a blade and routinely showed off his skills by beating his peers in spars when we were back at the temple. To have been so swiftly denied then shut down, even though he was using a new Form he was unfamiliar with, was humiliating to the boy. '...I asked for the man to return the saber. He took a while to mull his decision over before looking at me and igniting the blade. I used Ataru to try to overwhelm the man before he had a time to mount a defence but he used Soresu to defend himself.' The shock rippled through the chamber, even in Anakin. We had returned swiftly to the temple and was granted an immediate audience so there was little time to inform Anakin's of the skill of his opponent. Anakin hadn't seen the fight as he had knocked his head on landing and didn't wake until we were already on our way back.

'He knew Soresu?' Mace again. He didn't ask me if I was sure, as I was the resident Master of Soresu, and he trusted my judgement.

'Yes, but he only had minimal success in holding me off, high Padawan level no doubt but still no match for me. He chose to sacrifice ground rather than take strikes but, as we approached the fallen criminals he took a glance at them and decided I must be after them with the way I was pushing towards them or he didn't want to risk losing his bounties because he switched forms. If I was to describe the constitution of the man I would say he was as cool as a dead star, if you excuse the slang. He was calm, composed and in complete control over his emotions, even when being beaten back, if he were a Padawan I have no doubt he would have been a rising star within the order. It was this level of control, I think, that allowed him to utilise Form VII so effectively.' The room became deathly still.

'He knows Juyo?' Master Windu was astonished. As the Master who created Vaapad, a derivative of Juyo, he knew just how difficult the form was to use, let alone learn. For an outsider of the order to learn it without a teacher means that they are very, very skilled.

'Yes. And he was very good too. Most Jedi Knights would have trouble against him when using Juyo. If encountered again I would recommend any Padawans and Knights to fall back or engage with caution and leave the fighting, if any, to any master in the area. During his use of Juyo I allowed him to push me back to make him expend more energy and tire him quicker but his stamina was extremely high and he kept pushing. Soon a speeder entered the area and started to load the bodies onto it at which point he deactivated his saber and spun under my own. I believed he was utilising the Tarkata move of Pass the Blade so I turned to meet him with my saber raised in response. It turns out he used this to trick me into defending while he made a break for the crowd. The acceleration of his should not be possible with some use of the Force but I detected none from him. He quickly disappeared into the streets before I could give proper chase as I had to take care of Anakin.' The news was distressing for the Council as a Mandalorian this young that was already so good at fighting Jedi could mean another upheaval in Mandalorian politics, another civil war.

Their current pacifist government was seen as the best thing for the galaxy as it meant that a lot of Mandalorians would reject the call for war by a new Mandalore as they wanted the peace of Duchess Satine's reign. If a new Mandalorian emerged with a reputation for beating, or even killing, Jedi the Mandalorian populace could be reinvigorated by this and turn back to the ways they had abandoned only a few short decades previous.

'Master Kenobi, you have past experience with the Duchess correct?' Anakin looked at me curiously, wondering why I never told him about this.

'I was only assigned to protect the Duchess for a year Council members and the conflict last for nearly 12, even if the fighting only lasted for 9, the terrorist attacks took around another 3 years before they stopped. I am hardly an expert on the planet.' I couldn't help but wonder how she was and what it would be like to see her again. Whatever happened when we saw each other I knew it wouldn't be pretty.

'Maybe so but you are the best we have. You will need to go to Mandalore immediately to inform the Duchess of this development.' Well that settles that doesn't it.

'And what of Anakin surely he cannot travel with his recent injury, we cannot be sure of the extent of the damage and the message must be delivered immediately as you say.' Sometimes having Mace as a friend didn't help as he knew all of my tricks.

'Then Padawan Skywalker will remain at the temple while you go to Mandalore. The Duchess must be warned otherwise the frail peace within the Mandalorian sector could be lost. Besides, I think Skywalker could do with some time at the Temple and away from his Master so that he may reflect upon his actions.' Ouch. This was as much an urgent mission for me as a punishment for Anakin. I guess that did settle it, off to Mandalore I go.

* * *

This was exactly what we needed. Tor Vizsla was dead and his son Pre was an arrogant twat that thought he was entitled to the throne of Mandalore because his dad killed Jaster. Pre felt this made him, his father's heir, Mandalore. The thing was Tor didn't kill Jaster in one on one combat and even if he did Jango would have reclaimed the title of Mandalore when he killed Tor. Jango was useless as well. He was off bounty hunting. Normally there would be no problem with that, hell we were bounty hunters, but Jango did it at the expense of his people and shunned the title of Mandalore. He had even disappeared and only popped up occasionally. But this new kid, he was something else. His effortless dealings with the Padawan and his amazing feats against the Master marked this new kid with more potential than any other Mando I've seen before. He was going to go places but first he had to grow into his own. I could tell the boy was still young by his face and from guessing the age of the girl with him. We desperately needed a new Mandalore but the boy was still young, best let him grow a bit.

Well, while I waited for the boy to mature a bit maybe I could drum up a bit of support, and what better place to start then the boys home of Concordia.


	5. Chapter 5

John POV

I turned the hilt over in my hand. It was a mix between a two handed hilt and a one handed hilt. There were two buttons to turn it on at either end and a dial in the middle to change between the two settings. Dr. Halsey had out done herself. Upon the completion of our mission Cortana and I returned to Kamino where Dr. Halsey promptly took the lightsaber away from me.

'I will use it to make a blade worthy of a Spartan John. None of this ridiculous Jedi nonsense.' Well I have to say she certainly delivered. The first setting was the traditional straight blade. The buttons on the top and bottom could be used to create either a single or a double blade. You could comfortably fit two hands on the blade. The notch in the middle made it simple to quickly align your hands. It was also used to help with grip when using the blade in its second form. By turning the dial, which can only be done when both blades are inactive as a safety precaution built in by the good doctor, the blade can be turned on to create a two pronged blade that extends perpendicular to the emitters and curves towards each other. The blades don't meet, however, and left a gap down the middle. This gap gradually thins before thinning dramatically but still never touching. The blades fan back out though closer to the hilt so as to allow the blade to be wielded one handed. The reason for the gap was so that the blade could be used to catch and then disarm lightsabers by having them get caught in the gap and then thrown away with a flick of the wrist.

It was a beautiful blade with multiple functionality that fit perfectly with the Spartans as it allowed us to use the styles we had been practising and mastering while also giving use a weapon specifically designed to remove the Jedi's signature weapon. The problem was that while the blade had been designed for Spartans and not every Spartan would get to see it and even more would be left unable to use it.

Only 33 passed the final test, 45 lived but only 33 passed. We were holding a private ceremony for the 30 dead but it was only going to be between the remaining Spartans, Halsey and Cortana. This was a family affair and it would only be between us.

It would be a short ceremony where we would cremate the bodies and sing the Death Chant and then we would have the rest of the day off. Officially Halsey signed it off as a means for us to get used to our augmentations but in reality it was so we could morn. We knew we would be back tomorrow and we were fine with that, you don't get much time to grieve in war, but we still needed some time. These 30 had been with us everyday of our loves for the past 8 years and now they would never be with us again until we joined them in Kad ha'rangirs embrace and follow them to the heavens. But none of us were anywhere near close to ready to follow them.

I felt a hand slip into my own. It was so much smaller than my own, weaker too. With one hard squeeze I could crush it. I held it tight but not crushingly so, I had good control of my new augments thanks to the Mastery of Self techniques that I needed to master Juyo. The others were still struggling to control themselves. Cortana rubbed the scars on my palm then turned my hand over and rubbed the scars on the back. She looked sad. She knew the importance of those scars, the importance of my augments, but that didn't mean she had to like it. I had spent many an hour listening to her increasingly long rants on why the augmentation process was bad and why we should never do it. I could tell it was just her way of getting it all out, she was worried I was going to die during the process. It all came to a head when I told her I had to do this as it was Kad ha'rangirs will. She blew up at me, ranted and raved that I was an idiot, that the Gods didn't exist and that, fine I could go die for all she cared. She stomped her way out of the Yard and I didn't see her the day after. After her rant I needed to put on a brave face, I couldn't look weak. The others look to me to lead them, so as their leader I had to assure their doubts.

'We know the risks and accept them. We have to do this, Mandalore depends on us.' It helped. The fear was still there, just lessened, but they all gained the courage to face what was to come. I wonder if I made the right call. I know some of them didn't want to do it but if we didn't then we failed in our duty. If we didn't take the risk and go through with the augmentations we wouldn't be able to protect the Mandalorian people. Halsey stepped up to the pyres.

'Those behind me have failed in their mission.' All eyes snapped to the doctor.

'Their mission was to save the Mandalorian people, to protect them. And now they have failed and it is up to you to finish their mission. All of you, those who can fight and those who can't, have a part to play in this mission. Only together can you complete it. You must be willing to do _whatever_ is necessary to complete this mission otherwise their sacrifice will have been for nothing. They are to be buried as Mandalorians are, either as ash or all together. They will be buried as Mandalorians because they will never be Spartans, that title is yours now. That _responsibility_ is your now. If you fail, if you _die_ , then Mandalore will fall. You are Spartans now. And Spartans **never** die.'

* * *

John POV

The situation in the galaxy was delicate. We were still doing combat missions in the galaxy in our modified armour, although Halsey said we would soon be getting some new armour now we had our augmentations, but some of the pairs had to be reassigned due to the losses. The 12 non-combat Spartans were still able to walk, mostly, and talk so they were reassigned to Halsey's Special Operations Division that would help manage the special forces of the clone army, all Spartan teams would fall under their direct supervision. This meant that while a Spartan pair could be temporarily assigned to a clone battalion it wasn't permanent and was done at Halseys discretion. The leaders of each battalion, the different generals and admirals, did have operational control over the Spartans so long as they didn't have a specific mission assigned to them by Halsey or her division. This meant that the war council and the chancellor, those who would have direct command over all Clone Army assets which included the special operatives divisions like the ARC, Commando and the ODSTs, would have to request for a Spartan Fireteam as they didn't have the authority to deploy them. Halsey would also be in charge of mission assignment for all Spartan teams. It might seem strange that the Spartans had so much autonomy and with seemingly little oversight but these were the terms agreed upon when Dr. Halsey was brought onto the project and so that was how they would remain. The main reason they were allowed so much freedom is because there were so few fireteams.

Another reason was because Halsey had command of the Special Operations Division. This meant that while Halsey had the freedom to use her Spartans however she wished she was still under the direct command of the war council and the Chancellor.

For her division Halsey had originally planned on recruiting some of the best talent that she could find in the galaxy. She had eventually decided against this as she already had access to some of the best talent, thanks to Halsey's inclusion of mathematics, science, physics, reading, writing, and military tactics the basic Spartan training. That meant she could recruit talent that she already trusted implicitly.

As practise, Halsey had Cortana and the crippled Spartans coordinating our little training missions from within a command center in Tipoca city on Kamino. Due to the recent development of the growing separatist crisis we had to be careful not to get involved with any political jobs, we didn't need to attract any more attention. Our abilities were already doing that for us. Our unique armour made it easy for others to identify us which, with our abilities, lead to multiple parties trying to hire our services. Halsey didn't want us to be bounty hunters and saw any Mandalorian who became one for life as a waste. She was of the opinion that it was a good way to gain experience and keep our skills sharp but that it was a disgrace for a people as glorious as us to take up full time. A waste of perfectly good talent she said. I also agree that we shouldn't be full time bounty hunters, it lead to too much infighting and Mandos killing Mandos. Once people realised that we were all part of the same group they started asking for a name, we had briefly toyed with the idea of using another one, like Phalanx, a type of old military formation, or Viking, which meant We King in Mando'a. In the end Halsey decided we were to tell them we were Spartans to try to build up a solid reputation as one of the best. We talk say we were all we wanted but we needed to prove it. And the best way was through missions.

My latest mission was on the planet of Myrkr. It was a haven for smugglers and pirates due to the unique fauna and flora of the planet. The flora included plants that were imbued with the force, some felt that these were dormant Neti a race of force sensitive, sentient plants from Myrkr but this was unconfirmed, and many had high concentrations of minerals that blocked scanners making it hard to track and locate any criminal hideouts. The fauna developed in the opposite direction. While the plants were imbued with the force the animals lacked, or even, hunted it. The ysalamiri were lizards that could produce a bubble around themselves that negated the Force. They developed this trait to hide from the Vornskrs. The Vornskrs were a race of highly aggressive canine that hunted the ysalamiri by tracking force signatures. Due to their unique method of hunting they have come to associate Jedi with their favourite food source. As the region had little in the way of colonised planets there was no police force to rid the world of its criminal element and the flora made it impossible for anyone, specifically the Jedi that would be brought it to deal with the situation, to track the criminals while the ysalamiri blocked the Jedi's Force abilities, which would leave them vulnerable and in shock due to the sudden loss of Force connection, and the Vornskrs would hunt and kill any Jedi on the planet. In short, the worst place for a Jedi so the best place for criminals.

My mission was to eliminate a minor gang that had set up base on the planet. With the size of the gang and the hostility of the planet it was deemed too dangerous for Cortana to come in person and she needed to get some practice in with the new equipment so she would be my support from Kamino. Halsey had developed a General Interface Card that I could carry around with me. Cortana could talk to me through my in helmet communication system or through the holographic projector on the card itself. The card could be used with any available slots within a computer system to allow Cortana direct access to it. Essentially allowing her to remotely hack into any system that I could physically plug her into. The only problem was the holographic display. It was very useful but the problem was that Cortana was using it to contact me. Now this wouldn't be a problem if Cortana hadn't programmed the display to show a provocative version of herself where her private areas were only covered by moving streams of code. It was very distracting, which made it a perfect representation of Cortana I suppose.

'Touch down in 5 Chief.' Cortana's avatar appeared on the ships dash. It wasn't strictly necessary but I liked it as it made me feel like I was actually talking to her rather than contacting her over the comms. As to why she called me Chief, well, it was Cortana's idea of a funny nickname. She said because I was gonna lead all of the clans and because Jango was still alive I couldn't be called the Mandalore so I was to be called the Master Chief as I would be leading all of the leaders of all of the clans, making me their master. It was her idea of a clever nickname but the thing was, I had only just accepted my role as leader of the Spartans, while I was willing to do what was necessary to restore our people that didn't mean I needed to be Mandalore. In response to my valid reasoning, Cortana decided to consult Lama Su about the rank that the Spartans would hold. She had convinced him that due to our special nature we need to have ranks symbolising our command over the troopers, so she introduced 2 new ranks, Petty Officer for the Spartans and Petty Officer Master Chief for me. The worst part was the other Spartans started calling me the Master Chief too. For 8 years I have been known as John-117. Halsey used John while the Cuy-val Dar mainly used 117, Lama Su used the full thing ,as did the rest of the Kaminoans. That was my name John-117 and now it had shift to Master Chief just because Cortana decided that she wanted to change it. I suppose this is why Halsey told me to just nod my head to Cortana and say yes all those years ago. Cortana would have still gotten her way but it would have been less of a headache.

'Understood.' I yanked her chip and inserted it into the communication device on my arm. I then went to the hanger where the gun rack was located. I took a DMR for this one and a Magnum. The foliage was dense so a sniper was out but I still didn't want to engage this many hostiles in closer quarters, even with my new augments, unless I had the advantage as I wasn't sure how much the armour could take.

I walk down the ramp to the clearing I had landed in as I didn't want to use the ports. What few there are were controlled by larger gangs who make visitor pay to stay or just shoot you and take whatever is on your ship. I would rather take my chances with the local wildlife. I started to make my way into the forest in the general direction of the pirate base. It was only a few clicks out but it was getting dark and while my helmet had night vision I wanted to get into position before nightfall.

Dusk was just setting in and the nocturnal predators were just waking up or starting their hunts. The Vornskr were wake at all times of the day, requiring very little sleep, but mainly hunted at night unless hunger set in or there were other factors at work, like they were being attacked. I wasn't too worried as they didn't really eat people unless they were Force sensitive. The main reason was the taste, regular sentients tasted bad but they would do in a pinch, Force sensitivity added a new flavour to their meal that they loved, even bad tasting sentients became a new delicacy due to the new flavour they took when Force sensitive. They were strictly carnivores so didn't eat the Force sensitive plants but did chew on bark and sticks from Force sensitive trees. Olbio trees they were called. Ysalamiri lived in them and ate the Force imbued leaves which gave them their powers. The Vornskr learned this quickly, so while they were unable to track their favourite prey through their Force sensing capabilities they were able to sense the trees and from there could see and hunt the Ysalamiri. It was the circle of life, as soon as the prey figures a way to hide from the hunter the hunter figures out a way to find the prey. I made sure to stay away from Olbio trees when choosing my vantage point but these pirates, while new, were smart. They set up their base camp near a large group of Olbio trees so as to have a natural line of defence in the form of a pack of Vornskr. Most sentient life had enough of a signature for the Vornskrs to sense but the Spartan Gene that Halsey discovered had an effect on reducing the Force presence of all who carried it. The problem was I didn't know how pronounced the effect was other than the fact it reduced our Force signature to levels where the has never been, as far as Halsey can tell, a true Force sensitive that could use force techniques that also had the gene. It seemed that while they both enhanced the person they were apart of the gene that provided Force sensitivity and the Spartan Gene were complete opposites. But I still had to be careful of Vornskrs especially as they were feeding and couldn't rely on my weak signature to hide me completely.

The enemy compound had walls around it that were too high for the tree climbing Vornskrs to climb. This meant that to accurately recon the compound I needed to get as high as possible. The problem was my increased weight from my augments. Cortana suggested that I re-tune my wrist communicator so that she could use the signal to count how many devices made a connection to it. While it wouldn't give me an accurate number of enemies it would still give me a general idea. I could then remove the number of guards on duty and then remove that number again to find out the amount of predicted guard shifts they employed. This was because they would need to have just as many replacement guards as the ones currently on shift. Depending on what number we have left over we could figure out the most likely number of scheduled guard shifts there was. I count 7 on patrol and Cortana's estimates came back with around 26 devices. This meant 3 possible guard shifts. Pirates were a greedy bunch and don't want to put in more effort than needed so they most likely wouldn't stagger the shift times, making some longer and shorter than others, like would be advised so as to better prepare for any infiltrators by making it impossible for them to time the patrols. With the 24 hour rotation cycle and a 10 hour night cycle we had 3 hours and 20 minute shifts. The first shift started right at sun down as they didn't even put up patrols during the day, too confident or sure that no one would come for them, and it had been about 3 hours and 12 minutes so far but Vornskr activity was picking up.

I waited another 30 minutes, the guard change was a little late but it was only about a minute or so so it didn't ring any alarm bells, in fact it all but confirmed our theory about the schedule. Once the 30 minutes was over, plenty of time for the previous patrol to fall asleep, I crept down from the tree, keeping a tentative eye on the Vornskr. The wall was smooth but Halsey had given me a set of hand claws, that had the curved hooks resting at the point where the finger met the palm, that she called the Vornskr Claw. It was a little in joke towards the beasts I would encounter on this mission and because it was meant to help me scale the trees, I could see where Cortana got it from now, and here was me thinking her bad jokes came from her father Hod ha'ran. While they were meant to dig into bark they were tough enough, and me strong enough, that I could used them to scale the wall. My boots would find no grip, like they did on bark, due to the smoothness of the wall but I could manage.

I started my ascent as I began to hear footsteps approaching. My green and black armour helped to cover me somewhat in the dark cover of the forest but as said before these pirate were smart. They had removed all trees, Olbio or otherwise, from around the compound so as to stop any Vornskr using them to enter the compound so my cover was limited and I would have to be careful.

I rested just under the edge and out of view until the footsteps had just passed me before making my way over the edge. There was very little lighting within the camp so as to limit Vornskr, or even other pirate, attention but the guards had night vision. The bad thing was it meant they could still see me, the good thing was it limited their field of view. I snuck up behind the guard and grabbed his throat. The blades dug in, making any noise a gurgling sound. I placed the body on the ground, careful of noise. I didn't have anywhere to hide it so I left him there. I should be done before he's found. I started moving around the wall and dispatched 3 more of the patrol, leaving 3 left, before finding an access port. I plugged Cortana in and waited for her to access the system. Once she had the map and an accurate number of enemies, 23, some communication devices must be for personal use alongside their communicators to each other, I got to work. First was the rest of the patrol, once done Cortana direct me to the barracks. There was another 10 asleep inside, bringing the total up to 17. I had some trouble with the last two as they started to wake up when one of the others started gurgling too loud but I managed to dispatch them before they let off more than a single shout in surprise between them. After using the previous data collected on the communication devices and the map data, Cortana had extrapolated a basic map with the location of the pirates on it. She said there was no one near by to hear it but didn't want to risk being wrong and I agreed. We found the next 5 in the mess hall. They were laughing about something which made them slow to respond when I burst in.

The first fell to a swipe of my hand, the Claws catching on his neck, while the second threw a punch which I caught, digging the Claws into his hand, and a second swipe finished him off. The third rushed me with a metal tray but I turned, bringing up the Claw into his stomach and up until the Claw caught on his ribs. I pulled my hand back, ripping a chunk out of him and taking part of his floating rib with me, I left him to bleed out as the pain would keep them from fighting back. The other two ran for the door and were dispatched with 2 quick shots of the Magnum. Cortana placed the last in the middle of the compound. It only had a single entrance so was a sensible place to hold up in as they could just wait for me to come to them. Cortana directed me to the room above the last target and had me place a breaching charge on the floor.

After setting off the charge I jumped into the hole and lifted the DMR in the direction of the signal. A voice called from behind me.

'Over here.' I dove behind the ceiling debris to my right. It had fallen on what looked to be a set of draws giving me some decent cover. No sooner had I moved did a barrage of blaster bolts scorch the wall.

'I have to admit, using our comms to track us was pretty clever. When you pinged us I thought it was interference from the mountains at first. That lasted until my guys stopped reporting in and the screaming started. Then I knew you were tracking the comms. I set my comm in here and wait across the hall knowing…' This was taking too long. I slipped the Claws off my hands and onto my belt before shouldering the DMR. I spun out of cover and time slowed. The pirate leader seemed shocked that I left cover but already had her blaster raised and started to fire.

One, two, three shots went off before I fired. I wasn't worried, they would miss anyway. Two more after I fired but no more as my bolt reached the woman's head. She would have had to have been the vicious sort to lead this many pirates. Time sped back up and she dropped while her bolts whizzed past me. It seemed Halsey's alterations to the gas composite of the M-series blasters made the bolts faster. With my work done I made to leave the compound. I went back to my entry point as it was just as fast as using the front and only required me to go in a straight line to get back to the ship.

When I reached the wall I stopped. Feasting on the corpse of the first guard was a Vornskr. It must have used my hand holds to scale the wall. I was hesitant to fire because as soon as Vornskr blood was in the air the pack would go into a frenzy, there was a reason the most aggressive saber form, Form VII Juyo, was known as the Way of the Vornskr. It was time to see just how low my Force sensitivity was.

I took slow careful steps towards the beast. It was young, on the cusp of adulthood, but Vornskrs grew up fast taking only about 3 years to mature. They lived for around 5 decades before they passed their prime. This would kill them in the wild but trained Vornskr were known to live for around 8 decades or more. Its muzzle shot up and aimed at me and I stopped. While I was keeping my distance it wasn't because the young Vornskr was a threat, on its own, it's because I didn't want to kill it and unleash the pack on me. We were barely halfway through the night cycle so they hadn't mellowed out yet, like they do during the day. The Vornskr cautiously approached me and I tightened my grip on the DMR but the beast didn't look hostile so I let it come. It got right up close and started to sniff me before turning tail and jumping down the wall.

I lowered the rifle and dropped my tense posture. He was the only Vornskr that seem to want to take advantage of the free food so there was no more reason to be on guard. I twisted myself over the wall and used my previous claw marks as handholds to scale down the wall.

At the bottom I found the same Vornskr sitting at the bottom watching me. He turned to walk off but only got a few steps away before turning to look back at me.

'I think he wants you to follow him.' Cortana, it seems, thought I needed convincing.

'Aren't you the one also telling me the Gods give us signs? Well tell me a greater sign of Kad ha'rangirs work then one of the most hostile canines in the galaxy going practically tame in your presence and wanting to show you something.' She made a good point and so with that I started to follow the Vornskr, who had only started to move when I took my first step towards him. He was leading me further into the forest but Cortana could direct me back to the ship if needed.

* * *

John POV

It was day break before we stopped and I entered a clearing to find the Vornskr sitting and waiting for me. When I had cleared the tree line he turned to the jumble of roots behind him and started to gnaw on it. Vornskr loved the taste of the force and the plants here teemed with it so it made sense for them to chew on roots and branches as they were essentially flavoured chew toys. It wasn't the chewing that was interesting it was the plant. I needed to know which flora was Force sensitive on this planet so I could avoid it to avoid the Vornskr but I didn't recognise this one. I took a step towards it. They say that the Force flows through all life and that all life can feel the Force, if it's strong enough, and what I felt when I got closer to the plant was best described as an all consuming connection to life itself. This plant had more Force sensitivity than a dozen Olbio trees. When I touched the plant it shifted causing me to take a step back and bring my rifle to bear. The vines kept on shifting, scrunching together and making a slimmer shape. Its height was also reduced from around 9 foot to about 5 and a half when it finally stopped. The final shape looked vaguely humanoid and that's when I knew what this was. A Neti.


	6. Chapter 6

Kal Skirata POV

Jango's army was a disgrace. It was a veritable slave army, and for the Republic at that. If I had my way this army would be a Mandalorian army. It would still fight for the Republic, still be just as loyal to the Republic but would have been so much more than it is now. You only had to compare my Null Class to his Alpha Class. His troops were just like him, they were good but they were standoffish loners. My troopers were better in all combat sims, they had better teamwork capabilities and they were _Mandalorian_. The Kaminoans took Jango's side on the matter but that might not matter in the end. I could tell, a lot of those troopers being trained today were Mandalorian, no doubt about it. At first it was just my Null boys but I then started to see it in the others too and when the Immortals were finally created it was too late to stop it.

Dr. Halsey had played them for fools. When we started this thing all those years ago they were so eager to allow her to help improve the army but she in turn undermined their whole plan for the army. They gave her free reign so long as she made good soldiers and trained them well, they never thought to check what she was teaching them. They gave her a pass with the Spartans, and wasn't that a right kick in the nuts to Null class when we found out about them, but didn't check on the ODST's or even the Immortals new training modules. Their mistake was thinking her stake in all of this was as a scientist but I knew different and now, so do they. Halsey wanted to bring back the old ways of the Mandalorians, and I mean the _old_ old ways, Gods and all. She taught the ODST's how to be Mandalorian, they taught the ARC and Commando troopers to be Mandalorian and _they_ taught the rest, well except the Immortals at least. It wasn't perfect of course.

You had those like the Alpha class ARC troopers who didn't want to be Mandalorian as they saw it to be an insult to the army Jango was trying to create. You had those like the Commandos who were a bit of a mixed bag, even within the different squads, about whether they followed the Resol'nare or not. The ODST's were a no brainier, they Mando through and through. The harsh training formed a tight knit bond between the ODST but that was to be expected when you were deployed by being _shot from a kriffing Starship_. They were crazy bastards but were good Mandos and were willing to embrace the inherent madness of their training.

Called themselves Helljumpers, a fitting name, and had started to develop their own little subculture. They had their own signals, words and little customs but they were all derived from either their unique training or from Mandalorian origins. Definitely the more unique group on Kamino.

It was the Immortals that made up the die-hard group of Mandalorians. They were fanatics that followed the old Gods, Kaddak influences this time. I don't think even Halsey realised the direction the Immortals would take by putting Kaddak in charge of them. Walon Vau, for all that he was an overly aggressive prick, was a good choice for the Immortals. Their fanaticism made them want to be pushed hard which made him a good fit as he liked to push them. His previous experience with fanatical religious teachings was another point in his favour, and was the most likely reason he took up worship of the old Gods too.

I just wish he would stop pushing the ARC class he was training so hard. They didn't ask for it like the Immortals and Vau should be getting his jolly's off with torturing the Immortals, and calling it training, so much that he didn't need to do it to the ARC trooper. So I was still pissed with the incident with Ordo and Vau's damn Strill, sue me.

But, despite my anger at him sicking his pet on one of my boys I can't deny he was a good Mando and that his Immortals were very good too. He was also the one who introduced me to Halsey. The two had a good working relationship even before Vau took command of the Immortals. Turns out he was one of the trainers picked to help train Halsey's Spartans.

They were something else. I trained my boys to be good Mandos but Halsey trained the Spartans like they were all going to be the next Mandalore. I could see it too, one of them taking the title. This coupled with my strict adherence to the Code was what turned me and Halsey into allies.

She was using me and my boys, I know, but it was to help restore our people's culture by having _us_ follow our people's ways and take up the call of the Mandalore. I knew Jango was never going to declare, the pretentious bastard, so Halsey wanted me to support John-117's claim. We accepted people from all over the galaxy so I suppose having part of your name as a number wasn't too abnormal. I told her that when a true Mandalore appeared I would back their claim, no matter who it was so long as they were worthy of the title. Halsey accepted this easily.

My boys were growing strong but it was finally time to integrate them in with the rest of the ARCs. I didn't like the idea but it had to be done. I didn't like it for two reasons. Reason one was because out of the entire army it was the ARC troopers that were the least Mando and held resentment for the clones that took our ways, this level of hostility would make it hard for my boys to do their jobs right when their peers were trying to sabotage them. Reason two was because they weren't worthy of my boys.

Halsey saw a lot of similarities between the way she trained her Spartans and I trained the Nulls so she offered me the option of giving my boys the same chances the Spartans had, augmentation. She gave me 3 options, full augmentation, part augmentation or no augmentation. The full augments would bring my boys within touching distance of the Spartans abilities but had a high mortality rate, no chance, I was willing to give my boys every chance and opportunity to be the best they could be but I wasn't going to kill them for it.

Option 2 was the best option and the one we eventually went with. It had a lower level augments that allowed my boys to be better than the rest but weren't at the same level as the Spartan augments so didn't carry the same level of risk.

The augments were designed to improve the boys combat abilities, the main ones altered already existing abilities by increasing them to unseen heights. The first thing Halsey improved were their eyes. The colour sharpness was significantly improved upon, increasing their range of vision and allowing the them to develop night vision. The second augment altered the Nulls muscles. The chemicals increased the density of their muscles which allowed them to use increasing amounts of force. The final improvement was to their bones. By introducing chemicals that thickened the bones and increased their density making them virtually unbreakable. The only new ability was the ability for the Null troops to voluntarily increase their adrenaline levels. This altered their perception of time by reducing it by about 300% while giving them the illusion they were moving at normal speeds when the opposite was true, time was the same but they had sped up. They nicknamed this Spartan time after it first appeared in the Spartans.

They underwent the procedure around the same time as the Spartans and me, see my boys liked to take care of me when they could so had made me a deal, they would go through the augmentation process only if I got my ankle fixed. I agreed, the Kaminoan weather aggravated my injury so there was no reason not too.

We spent the last year learning about their augments, how far they could push them, the limits of them and any hidden tricks we could find. Halsey sent her Spartans out into the field the learn their limits but I kept the boys close so I could monitor them closely. The boys would have rejoined with the other troopers sooner but with the invention of Halsey's ODST training I wanted to include some of it which added another year to their training and then the augmentations made it 2 years but there was no more delaying it now, they need to rejoin the rest of the Army. They have enough ODP training so I wonder if I can have them transferred to the ODST's.

* * *

Obi-Wan POV

I found my mind wondering back to Mandalore every time it had the chance. I was only there for about a month but it was to leave a lasting impact, on me and Anakin. I would say that the time apart was good for the boy but that would be a lie. While he wasn't butting heads with the council as much and was more inclined to listen to them it was only because he didn't want to be separated again. He kept blaming them for tearing us apart and felt they were punishing him for losing the fight with the Mandalorian, the Spartan, even though he held me off for a time as well. Anakin also resented me too. He felt that I hadn't trained him enough and I wasted too much time on useless skills like meditation and not enough time on combat skills. With the estimated age of the Spartan to be around the same as Anakin's only heightened his feelings on the matter. These feelings about me didn't stop him from gluing himself to my side upon my return though, as he was worried he was going to lose me too. And with how much he had lost over the years he wasn't going to lose me as well even if I wasn't his favourite person at the moment.

These problems only made me feel even more guilty over the events at Mandalore. See, as Anakin was suffering here I had a great time at Mandalore. Normal having fun and enjoying myself would have been a good thing but I had been stupid, very stupid, on Mandalore and broken the Code. Me, the Jedi of all Jedi, apparently, the one who embodied the code, council propaganda, and the youngest council member in 4000 years, as we know.

I didn't regret my time on Mandalore, with Satine, which only made my guilt skyrocket.

She had a strange power over me that woman. When we were first together, and I was a Padawan under Master Qui-gon, if she had asked me I would have stayed with her, made even have become Mandalorian. Maybe even join the Mandalorian Navy, before Satine disbanded it, and joined up with figures like Captain Jacob Keyes and Lord Admiral Terrence Hood.

When Satine disbanded her army and navy they were reassigned to her diplomatic staff. The two were later joined by Admiral Hood's adopted son Thomas. He was a very quiet and reflective man, a bit younger than I expected but with a strong sense of justice and sense of right and wrong. It certainly help his case, in my eyes, that he wasn't afraid to call Satine out on some of her decisions, even in front of an outsider like me, if he felt she was being unreasonable. That woman needed _someone_ to reel her in and if she didn't have me then Thomas was a good choice. Not that the two were lovers like Satine and I once were. No Satine had debunked that theory quickly and now we come to the source of my guilt.

As expected when I arrived on Mandalore she wasn't the most welcoming. She hadn't lost any of her fire and we were both too stubborn to admit to that we had missed each other so we ended up taking snide digs at one another and generally getting in each other's way. It didn't help that I was there to tell her about the council's fears of another civil war for her people and that she needed to take action.

She saw that as me ordering her, I wasn't but my tone of voice at the time didn't help, to raise an army and reestablish her navy. It all came to ahead when she swept out of the room, apparently done talking with me. I chased her down, I didn't run but did increase the pace of my walk, I was angry but that was no excuse for being undignified, and eventually caught her outside the door to her chambers. That's when the problem started. We kept our voices low as we continued our disagreement but I needed to make her understand, just make her see, the danger she was in. I couldn't think of anything more terrifying than her getting hurt again. I didn't even realise I said it until she became far too quiet at which point I realised our closeness and that I had her up against her door in a very compromising position. I had no time to correct my actions before her arms were around my neck and our lips were engaging in a battle of a different sort. I don't remember the opening of the door or the flying of the cloths just that we spent a lot of time in bed that day doing everything but sleeping.

We didn't spend all of our time in bed breaking the Code, while Jedi were allowed to have sex, love in all its forms, even sex, were forbidden after all. Some time was spent talking, actually talking this time. I told her my worries for her safety, her health, both mental and physical. If another war broke out she would be in immense danger and she wouldn't take herself to safety as she cared too much for her people. I think that would be the worst part if another war broke out as she would blame herself for everyone who died. Once I finished she told me that no matter what happens, she was committed to her path. She had to lead by example as all leaders of her people did. If she started to raise an army it would only encourage her people to start fighting again. But if she stayed on her path and didn't raise an army then her people would follow. Her faith in her people was absolute. I found I didn't want to convince her to raise an army any more as I didn't want to take this away from her. The way her face lit up when she talked about her people, the passion with which she spoke about her people was so alluring.

Her passion was so alluring. I suppose that's what made the Darkside so tempting, the beauty of it.

I had then told her that, last time I was here I would have stayed if she had ask me too. The _I feel the same now_ was implied but she just rested her hand on my cheek and said.

'I didn't ask you then and I won't ask you now. You are a Jedi Obi-wan and I won't ask you to change. I like you just the way you are.' Her small smile was bright enough to light an entire star system.

I had tried to argue that falling in love was against the code and that I wasn't a Jedi any more. She had an argument for that as well, I think she had prepared it in advance as the amount of information and history she would have had to go through would have take months to find. It appears she wanted to have her cake and eat it too, or me as the case may be.

'I may not know much about the Jedi but I know a lot about the Mandalorians and our histories have crossed several times in the past. But, correct me if I'm wrong, weren't Jedi once allowed to have families, to have _lovers_.' Oh boy. That whispered word sent a chill down my spine before stopping between my legs, there went another hour. But she was right. Damn this woman, she could convince me of anything. First, she convinces me to break the Code then she convinces me to follow it, at least the original Code but the differences were slight even if they meant completely different interpretations on how a Jedi should act. So this was what it felt like, and people called me the Negotiator.

The next day was awkward. Due to the little amounts of sleep I got the night before I wasn't at my best, so I wasn't as immaculately dressed as usual and it was apparently noted.

Lord Hood had passed me at the dining table that morning, where we were having our breakfast, on his way to his seat. As he was passing me he said.

'It seems Mandalorians are too much for Jedi in more than just combat.' I was struck upright, frozen. How the hell did he know?! My eye moved to Satine who had the biggest, most sinister smirk imaginable and just tugged her right collar. My hand shot up to my neck, right hand side, and my eyes widened in shock. She didn't.

Apparently she did and so I was left shifting my collar all day I was so paranoid, and her smirk didn't lessen once. Damn that woman. The rest of my time on Mandalore was spent in much the same as that first day, her making me break the Code and me loving every minute.

Soon our time together was over, thank the Force, the woman was insatiable and I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep up, as the council recalled me. Anakin's mood was getting worse and with the little success I was having in convincing the Duchess I was brought back home. Satine understood and she let me go with little fuss, confident we would see each other eventually. Mandalorians understood what it was like to spend a long time away from your lover, they knew a lot about releasing stress too, it's why Mandalorians were allowed to have other partners in bed so long as their spouse agreed. If a Mandalorian was caught with another without their partner's approval then it was grounds for divorce, a big no, no in a society based around family. It was right up there with disowning a member of your family.

And so I returned to Coruscant racked with guilt and the situation with Anakin wasn't helping, thankfully that problem was being handled by our increased number of training sessions to improve Anakin's Djem So and Shien. I had also made it my personal mission to validate Satines reasoning on Jedi and their families being allowed in the past, which lead me to the old Jedi Code.

Emotion, yet Peace.

Ignorance, yet Knowledge.

Passion, yet Serenity.

Chaos, yet Harmony.

Death, yet the Force.

It explained so much and went a long way to assuring the doubts I had about Anakin. The Code was originally changed because the duality of it made it hard for Padawans to understand it, understand its meaning, so it was amended to reduce the risk of allowing them to fall to the Dark Side. The new Code was meant to be a sort of starting point for teaching the old Code when the Padawan understood its meaning better.

This version of the Code gave me a new perspective on my attachments, and after my time with Satine I realised I had many of them, a lot of them being friends made within the Jedi order. I will plan to teach Anakin this version of the code when he becomes a Jedi Knight, it was meant for to be taught to Jedi when they stopped being Padawans after all, as I am sure he will better connect with it and help him to better handle his many attachments. But only after he knew what it truly meant to be a Jedi, what both versions of the Code stood for and tried to teach, self-discipline, tolerance, compassion, harmony and peaceful exploration. A Jedi must know all of these things and once Anakin learned them too I would teach him the old Code.

* * *

Dooku POV

When the blue glow of the hologram filled the room I dropped to my knee, bowing my head. I was currently on my way back from assessing the progress of our factories on Geonosis, with barely any time left before my Master's plan could be put into action we needed to be sure of our progress and that the droid army could combat the clone army, especially due to the clones combat abilities that are far above predicted levels thanks to the intervention of Dr. Halsey.

When she was initially brought on to the project the potential she could bring it was hard to refuse but as the years progressed and her influence over the project grew my Master grew more cautious of her. I had managed to convince him that her improvements coupled with their more Mandalorian influences would be a massive help when the time was right. Things were going fine until Halsey's Spartans were revealed and then later allowed to run combat mission in the galaxy.

My Master saw their nature of essentially free agents as a possible compromise to the whole project but the fact that the Spartans and Halsey herself were to be attached to the clone army at Halseys behest meant that those doubt were eased as well.

After Halsey's involvement with the clone army as the head of the Special Operations Division was made know to my Master he had decided to use our influence and contact with Jango to give missions to her Spartans to test their capabilities. Last years engagement with the Jedi on Coruscant only improved their appeal in my Master's eye. How he managed to arrange a confrontation between the Jedi and Spartan I don't know and how he knew the Padawan would engage the Spartans I didn't know but after seeing the Holotape of the incident I had to agree with my Master. Their skill and loyalty instilled in them made them useful pawns in our plans and would be another nail in the coffin of the Jedi Order.

Halseys intelligence, ties to the Special Operation Division and previous experience of running a successful spy network as Mother Whisper has lead my Master to wanting to create a new, more militarised, arm of the Republic Intelligence. He wanted it to command all military intelligence operations and to command any secret military projects for the Republic as Halsey's experience with _special_ projects and her willingness to use extreme measures, as seen with the Spartans, made her a perfect choice for the head of this new Office of Naval Intelligence. We had yet to approach her but we would soon. We didn't want to start too soon otherwise a woman of Halsey's skill and intelligence may lead to the division being too effective and ending the war before it had fully run the length needed for our plans to succeed. But we also had to give her enough time to build up her division for the war and to properly absorb the SOD into the new ONI command. The special projects section would be known as ONI section 3 with other duties head by different ONI Sections as well, 0 for internal affairs, 1 for military intelligence and 2 for propaganda.

'How goes the production of the Droid army Tyrannus?' Normally my Master wouldn't care for such a menial update but we would finally see the full abilities of some of our new battle droid commissioned after the success of Halsey's ODST and Immortal divisions. We need to create better droids so as to prolong the war.

'Well my master. They may even surpass Grievous' Magna Guard if they survive long enough.' Where my Master found the plans for such brilliantly designed droids was unknown to me but their work was phenomenal.

'Have Grievous teach them some basic Saber skills but focus on teaching them tricks to combat Jedi. And have Durge teach them the basics of Mandalorian combat, they must be adept at fighting both the Commanders and the Soldiers if we wish to prolong this war.' These droids were able to learn from each fight which meant you could train them like you would a sentient instead of programming every response which gave them greater adaptability, a basic version of this was to be implemented into the new Commando Droids but they weren't ready just yet.

'I will see to it at once my Master.' With that the transmission ended. I needed to contact Grievous and Durge, it was time to see what these Hunter Killers could do.


	7. Chapter 7

John POV

The Neti's name was Ood Bnar. He was apparently a Jedi from over 4000 years ago and had fought in the Mandalorian Wars alongside Revan against Mandalore the Ultimate. After managing to narrowly escape the Devastation of Ossus, and the wrath of Exar Kun, Ood Bnar returned to the Jedi order to act as their Keeper of Knowledge, which was a massive boon for the Jedi as he remembered much of the knowledge lost with the loss of the Library world. Once Mandalore the Ultimate started his campaign across the Galaxy Ood Bnar realised that it was only a matter of time before the Mandalore turned his attention to the Republic and so followed Revan to stop this threat, even when doing so went against the council's wishes. He wasn't much of a swordsman but his vast knowledge made him invaluable in identifying enemy weaknesses and strategy.

The reason for his hibernation back on Myrkr was because his ship was shot down during the Battle of Myrkr and he emerged from the wreckage only to be hunted down by the Mandalorians.

After finding Bnar, and watching as he emerged from his hibernation, I noticed he seemed very confused and was very disorientated. I would have left him on Myrkr and finish my mission, by reporting to my client on Coruscant, but the Vornskr and Cortana were very insistent on my being here to help him.

'The Gods brought you here for a reason John.' She was developing a very annoying habit of using the Gods to get me to do what she wanted me to do, but she did have a point. After escorting the Master to my ship he thanked me for my help and asked if I knew the fate of the galaxy and where Revan was. I informed him of the fact that we were about 4000 years after the time of Revan, judging by the lack of shock he probably suspected but just needed me to confirm exactly how much time had passed, and that the Mandalorians were no longer at war with the galaxy.

The ageing Master then asked me if I could fill him in on the events of the galaxy while escorting him back to the Jedi. I agreed and went to fetch a datapad that Cortana was busy filling with a brief 4000 year history onto via remote download, unfortunately for us you need a devices identification code to access it remotely, which was why we used her chip to make allow her to access devices. Cortana had her chips identification code so could access that remotely and use it to gain access to any system it was connected to. After retrieving the pad I went back to the hold and noticed the Vornskr from before was still chewing on him.

'Aren't you going to stop him?' The Neti looked down at the Vornskr and shook his head.

'No. Neti are used to the Vornskr nibbling on them and this one means no harm, he is just playing, so there is no reason to remove him.' I shrugged. It wasn't my body so it didn't matter too much in the end. I handed over the pad.

'Thank you. I have just realised how ignorant I have been. You have gone out of your way to help me and I have not even offered a single word in thanks or even asked for your name.' He looked at me expectantly.

'Shev'la.' He looked a mild bit alarmed but then again to him he was fighting the Mandalorians only moments ago so it was to be expected he would feel uncomfortable around one.

'I didn't realise they allowed Jedi to become Mandalorians in today's age.' He must have meant the revised saber Halsey gave me that hung from my belt.

'They don't.' He looked a bit alarmed at that, most likely assuming I killed a Jedi to get it or had defect to the Mandalorians, something that members of the Jedi have done in the past. There was a small, tense atmosphere on our journey to Coruscant, which just so happened to be my employer's world as well, but that didn't stop us from talking. The Jedi Master loved to share his vast knowledge with others and I was very interested to hear about Mandalorians, like Mandalore the Ultimate or Mandalore the Indomitable, and the Taung in general. In exchange I informed the Jedi on the basic knowledge I had on today's Jedi Order and the differences in today's version of the Mandalorians, he relaxed considerably upon hearing about the Duchess and the New Mandalorian government.

Before too long, a few days at most, it was hard to accurately measure time in hyperspace, we arrived at Coruscant, which is where the trouble started. See, the Jedi are very strict with who enters their air space and I didn't have the right clearance codes to land.

We had two escort fighters direct us to a free landing platform when I refused to leave and was greeted to a whole host of Jedi with their sabers ignited. I made sure Master Bnar went first and that the Vornskr was lock in the hold. No telling what would happen if we violate air space and then release a hound that eats Jedi after all.

A black human male came to the front followed closely by a small green creature that bared some resemblance to a Lannik. The third would be a problem, as they were the Jedi Master I had encountered last year, and he apparently recognised me. The brown male spoke up.

'Who are you? State your business?' Bnar took a step forward with his hands raised and started to speak.

'My name is Master Bnar of the Jedi order.' The man's face scrunched up into even more of a scowl.

'I don't recognise you.' A high council member than if he knew so many of the Order. The Grand Master perhaps?

'I doubt you would. I am a Neti and it has been nearly 4000 years since I last saw the galaxy.' They seemed to consider his claims. While not exactly unknown the Neti were rarer today than ever before, but they still couldn't dismiss his claims especially when he bore such a resemblance to the race. He used the force to hand over his lightsaber to them to erase their doubts. Every Neti in history had become a Jedi and none had ever fallen to the darkside.

'My name is Ood Bnar.' That got their attention. The name probably gained a lot of significance in the past few millennia.

'And your companion?' The three pairs of eyes moved over to me. My posture was relatively relaxed and slightly slump with my hands at my side but I was ready to fight or bolt if the situation demanded it. The third Jedi definitely recognised me.

'His name is Shev'la, a young Mandalorian who found me and brought me to his ship before agreeing to bring me here even without the promise of reward.' The Jedi I fought previously stepped forward.

'This is him, Master Windu, the Mandalorian who knows Juyo.' The assembled Jedi were sent into a flurry of whispers at that, most likely in awe of an outside knowing one of their forms and such a difficult one at that.

'I see. Would you both like to join us in the council chambers, we would very much like to speak with you both.' There wasn't much choice but to follow if I didn't want to have to fight my way out, and I still need to make contact with my employer, something I can't do if i am being chased off the planet.

Master Bnar arrived at the council chambers and started to recount our story on how we met and our trip here to the council, but I let Master Bnar do most of the talking. He liked to do it and I didn't, so both sides found it to be beneficial. The council's attention sooner turned to me as Master Bnar was wrapping up his story, with a lot of unnecessary details and descriptions of events that didn't really matter in the end.

'And why were you on Myrkr, Shev'la?' The man took the seat to the right of the small green Jedi seen before, was he the Grand Master? Either way this Master Windu did enough talking for them both.

'A bounty.' My short answer didn't seem to sit well with him but I gave him all the information he needed so it wasn't my problem.

'I see. You have previous contact with the Jedi don't you _Mandalorian_. Just last year you were responsible for the injury of a Padawan learner and started to fight Master Kenobi after refusing to return a lightsaber that belonged to a Jedi.' The Padawan attacked first and we all knew it, well not Master Bnar, the Master was just trying to put me in an awkward position by making it seem like I was the aggressor.

'Funny. I thought Jedi weren't allowed to own material possessions.' Their surprise was evident by the glances they took between each other, no one quite sure how to respond so I continued.

'Beside, your Padawan attacked first.' There wasn't much they could do as I was essentially claiming the blade as compensation for an unlawful attack on my person. I didn't see too much of a problem with the Padawans preemptive strike, it was a legitimate battle tactic, but whatever allowed me to leave without a fight was going to be useful here.

'I see you have made some additions to it. Well, you have our thanks for returning Master Bnar to us and we would like to reward you for your will gather together some credits for you in return for the transportation of one of our own.' I inclined my head to him.

'However, seeing as you have laid claim to an item very dear to the Jedi and this order how about a little spar. You lose and you leave with nothing. You win and we double your credits, spoils of war as it were.' No real lose either way as I never expected a reward from them for following the Will of Cortana, ahem, the Gods.

'You don't want the lightsaber back?' Seemed a bit counterproductive.

'You wouldn't accept a spar if the blade was on the line, now would you?!' It seems they had some sense after all. I agreed to the challenge and we all started to make our way to the nearby sparring rooms. We had attracted quite the crowd so they decide to instead take me to a room that could hold the influx of people. The room had some younglings sparring in a mini tournament style competition. It was shaped like a small arena with the sparring mats in the middle and seats around the side.

'Master Drallig, I must apologise to you and your students but we have need of the room.' The Master, Drallig, saw me and the gathering crowd and nodded.

'Understood Master Windu, I will take the younglings elsewhere.' Windu raised his hand.

'No need. We are disturbing you so you can all have front row seats if you like, it could be a valuable lesson for them.' Master Drallig accepted and took the younglings into the stands. They looked to be about 12 years old, just 3 years under the younglings and all but Windu on the council were seated the rest of the crowd filtered in. There were some seats spare but not many. Only a few faces attracted any attention, mainly the Padawan I fought before whose face looked like he couldn't wait for me to get my ass handed to me. The others mainly belonged to the younglings. They looked so eager to see the fight that was about to happen but none more so than a young togruta girl who was practically vibrating in her seat.

After seeing Windu take off his outer robe I moved to the side of the arena and removed all upper body armour including my helmet. After arranging it into a neat pile I placed the helmet on top turning it to face me. Once done I stepped back into the ring to face Windu.

'I hear you specialise in Juyo, boy. Allow me to give you a lesson in what it takes to master it.' His face was blank and devoid of emotion. His words were supposed to invoke indignation which would allow him to use Vaapad more effectively. Vaapad used the dark emotions that allowed people to access the darkside, to increase its effectiveness. Both the user and the wielders dark emotions were sources of strength for a master of Vaapad but that didn't mean one had to feel dark emotions to use it, the opposite was actually true. Vaapad allowed users to channel rage and anger without allowing the emotions to touch the user. This was because Juyo masters ignore their darker emotions while Vaapad channels them into their blade and form. This meant the more dark emotions on both sides the greater the abilities of Vaapad.

Masters used Mastery of Self in both styles but in different ways. Mastery of Self allowed people to identify and control their emotions. It was more about accepting your inner darkness than actually feeling the emotions. Juyo used this by locking away emotion so as to not disrupt the delicate balance need to use the form while. Vaapad was so fast and aggressive it was like a storm, and it's user, the Eye.

'No need. I already have.' Windu gave a dismissive huff. Apparently Jedi didn't think others were as good as them. Good to know, it would let me surprise him. We both ignited our blades and got into our ready stances.

Windu struck first, his strikes so fast they blurred out of view. They looked like multiple tentacles that tested my defences and tried to find their way around. The style definitely deserved to be named after the Vaapad, a fast striking tentacle creature with poison barbs at the end of the tentacles, and had any number of them that ranged from 8 to about 23. I held off his furious strikes with my own mastery of Juyo and tried to take advantage of Form VII's overly aggressive nature by striking where in his blind spots. Windu didn't allow me to take advantage of his gaps by sacrificing some of his offensive strikes and turned them into counter offence to stop me scoring a hit.

Neither of us was gaining or giving ground and we had ended up circling each other multiple times during the fight, never once stepping out of the invisible circle we seemed to be trapped in.

Vaapad was, perhaps, the most deadly thing I faced, and I once encountered a mating Bull Rancor on a mission in the outer rim. It was definitely the superior style to Juyo and Windu's Force Enhancements were just higher than my own augments giving him the advantage in this fight. The problem for Mace was that Vaapad used the darker emotions of both fighters and I didn't allow mine due to my mastery of Juyo. This halved the effectiveness of the style. The other point in my favour was that while Windu wasn't going to use any tricks to help him in battle I had no such reservations.

After swiping Windus blade to the side I finished my half turn and thrust the bottom end of my hilt towards him and ignited the second blade, thrusting at his chest. The second blade was a surprise for Windu who had no time to block. A shallow cut split his shirt just over his stomach but Windu was unharmed, barely dodging the blade.

This allowed me to take control of the flow of the battle from Mace and launch into the double bladed techniques used with Juyo. Normally I would be able to build up enough momentum when I was on the offensive to break through any defence, except maybe a Master of Soresu, but Windu was using counter charge tactics to deny me the full power capable with Form VII.

Counter charge tactics were mainly employed in mounted combat and consisted of rushing to meet a charging enemy. This was because a charge could easily overwhelm a defensive position and by allowing them to complete the charge they gain more momentum which means more power. To beat this you rush forward to meet your enemy half way. This gives you have some momentum that isn't possible from a defensive position, allowing your opponent only half of their full momentum. Attacking your enemy instead of defending against them, which usually results in more casualties for you when charges are involved, reduces losses and results in more kills for your side.

Juyo was basically the mounted charge version of lightsaber combat which meant Windus counter charges were stopping me from breaching his defences and scoring a hit.

The battle wasn't going either way so Windu used a sidekick to try to put me off balance and onto the back foot. Now, as said before Windus Force Enhancements gave him marginally higher speed and strength than my augments but my augments gave me a something that the Force didn't give him. More weight. When Windus leg connected I barely took a step to rebalance myself before deactivating my blade and grabbing his leg. Once done, I swept his other from under him and then planted my shoulder into his stomach before twisting us so that I could drive him into the floor.

He hit the ground hard while my added strength and weight knocked the wind from his lungs and the saber from his hand. I rolled myself over his body slamming his head to the floor again. I rose to my knees, turning to meet him, and activated the bottom blade. Using both hands I slammed the blade into where his head lay.

His reflexes saved him and he rolled to the side and palmed his saber, using the Force to call it to hand, before activating it and swiping for my head. I activated the top blade to block it but Windu was already climbing to his feet. I climbed to mine but was steadily being overwhelmed by his renewed assault. To break this I used a kick of my own. The Force could increase Windu's physical attributes but not his physical form. The power of my strike and the weight behind it, which amplified the normal amount of force I could bring to bare, sent the older man sailing across the room.

Giving chase I used a Swift Flank technique, which uses jumps and gravity to further enhance the power of a strike. Once Windu had stopped rolling along the floor. He quickly brought himself up to one knee and used Force Push, when I was at the height of my jump, to send me sailing back.

That was the true weakness of Form VII, Force Techniques. Because the Form placed so much emphasis on physical techniques it was very vulnerable to the Force. Normal my innate resistance to Force Techniques, thanks to my Spartan Gene, would reduce the effectiveness of any used against me, even when employed by a Master. But, due to me being at the apex of my jump his Force Push sent me back across the room. Anyone else would have hit the wall but I landed on my back meters from it. I quickly rolled to my feet but was too late as Windu was upon me swiftly, striking so fast and hard my hasty defence was no match and he quickly knocked my saber from my hand and held his to my throat. The roar of the crowd slowly entered my ears. I had blocked them out due to my Mastery of Self techniques so I could focus on my opponent, it wasn't advisable to use this technique in the field as I needed to always be aware of what was happening around me, but it was great for one on one fights like this.

'You've lost.' Even over the crowd I could hear Windu.

'So it would seem.' He deactivated his saber and I went to retrieve my armour and blade. I was leaving the temple while putting it on, no more reason to stay, and I had only just gotten my helmet back on before I activated my comm.

'Did you get it?' The smug satisfaction was evident in Cortana's response to my question. A job well done.

'Every second.' Before the fight I had asked Cortana to use my helmets external cameras to record the fight. I learned Juyo from watching Holovids after all and now, I had Vaapad too.

I may not have gotten credits from the Jedi but I did get a saber form superior to Juyo for me to practise and master. My start with Juyo should make this easier but it would still take a couple of years.

Once at the ship I made my way to the lower levels to meet my employer to receive my pay.

* * *

Obi-wan POV

The temple was still abuzz from the close match between one of the Orders greatest saber Masters and a seemingly random Mandalorian warrior. The apparent youth of the Mandalorian was another major talking point around the temple but for different reasons. The youths of the temple saw it as a way of saying they too could match a Jedi Master even at a young age if they were good enough but the high council had something else to say about his youth.

'Around 15 years of age and already he has mastered Juyo. This only further provides credence to our worries that an unknown faction of Mandalorians may be trying to reignite hostilities in the sector. Only dedicated training from an early age could allow for this. And for someone to teach the boy so rigorously and from such a young age they would have had to have been a survivor of the Mandalorian Civil wars. The question is, which faction did they belong to, Death Watch or the True Mandalorian?.' It was clear that despite winning the trouble the young warrior gave him was deeply troubling to Mace.

'His skill will soon draw other Mandalorians to his side, if they haven't already. Then there is inherent resistance to the Force to consider.' Force resistance wasn't anything new but it was usually restricted to a species. This resistance came at the cost of the ability to use the force, you don't see any Hutt or Toydarian Jedi do you. To see it so predominately within a member of a race we know capable of using the force was worrying.

'He is basically tailor made to oppose Jedi, a true Jedi Killer, and I was even unable to identify any shatterpoints on his person.' I see. Mace didn't get spooked easily but someone who was born, bred and made to kill Jedi is one to be feared. The fact that he is as good as our best swordsman, resistant to Force Techniques and doesn't have any shatterpoints is a very frightening combination.

'I see you have all reached the same conclusion as myself, that another Mandalorian Civil war is imminent.' Master Bnar was invited to the meeting due to him having the most contact with this Shev'la and having fought Mandalorians in the past.

'Yes. We believe this Shev'la and his group of Spartans have been trained by underground remnants of one of the losing parties in the Civil wars. Master Bnar, you have the most experience dealing with Mandalorians and fighting against them what would you recommend?' Master Bnar took his time to think about his answer.

'If these new Mandalorians are truly Spartans then we do nothing.' Master Bnar's suggestion wasn't well received but he was allowed to explain himself. 'We need to convince the New Mandalorians to rearm. If they don't then they will lose the next war, and we can all agree we don't want that to happen. If they don't then the Republic will wish to intervene as they want to preserve the pacifist regime. If the Republic intervenes, however, I believe, with the current political climate, systems will see this as an attempt by the Republic to install sympathetic governments and the Civil War will engulf us on a galactic scale.' He was right. The Republic had a lot invested in a peaceful Mandalore and would do anything to keep it that way. Mandalore would have to rearm but I knew Satine would never do so as she would see it as confirming the rebels stance on Mandalorian culture and lead to an increase in their ranks. There was nothing we could do.

'The Duchess will never do it. She just see it as the same as starting the Civil War herself and will just lead to more Mandalorians siding with the rebels. She will only ever raise an army in defence of her people but if they are not under attack or there is no clear threat then we will find it impossible to convince her.' The council understood where she was coming from but didn't like it.

'Master Kenobi. If this Civil War does happen then we must at least try to help defend the Duchess. You already have past experience with this and our new Mandalorian problem. Your knowledge and skill will be invaluable in protecting the Duchess for as long as it is needed for her to raise an army should war break out.' I nodded. I would have gone even without their support but having it makes it easier.

'And Anakin? What will happen to him when I am away, it took a two man team last time.' Mace sighed.

'Your right. Skywalker will need to go with you, and his growing skill in saber combat will be useful. However, we must also prepare you both. This Shev'la has proven dangerous, and while I am of the opinion that he is the best these Spartan have to offer we cannot be sure. Master Bnar, you have experience with fighting Mandalorians. I would like for you to prepare the two for this coming mission. Kenobi, we will limit any future missions you have until it has been deemed the pair of you are ready to face these Spartans and effectively protect the Duchess.' I understood their reasoning, I just hoped Anakin saw the opportunity to get even with Shev'la to be worthy enough to stop missions for the foreseeable future, otherwise my time at the temple will include more than a few trips to the infirmary to get headache relief.

'I am no fighter but I do possess extensive knowledge and will be able to help prepare them with that but it is 4000 years out of date.' Master Bnar looked a little uncomfortable. He had only just been reintroduced with the Jedi order and could already fail his first assignment, a little embarrassing for a Master but he knew he couldn't refuse.

'You will be given full access to the Library so as to train the pair better, learn anything you think relevant. I will train them to fight, you just need to tell me what to train them in Mandalorian culture and tactics, and fill them in on any other important information.' Anakin will not be pleased. No missions and training under Windu again. Last time he learned how to first use a saber and unarmed combat from the man and Anakin hated every second, even though it was on his favourite subject Combat. As for Master Bnar, while it may seem like we were rushing to reintroduce him to the order and giving him access to the vast array of knowledge may not seem like the best idea, but even today, Master Bnar was know as one of the greatest sources of knowledge the Jedi order has ever had and his staunch loyalty has never been questioned, his ties to Nomi Sunrider and the fact that his holocron was still used to teach today gave him a lot of trust. The fact that Neti had never fallen to the darkside gave him more than a little bit of leeway.

As for Master Windu's plan to train us to combat these Mandalorians, it had merit. It meant we could give Mandalore time to raise its army without needing Republic intervention and thus stopping the war from spilling over to the galaxy. My only problem was the open endedness of this new assignment. We were basically preparing for an undefined amount of time for a conflict that may never happen. Mandalore was of vital importance but the uncertainty was a bit unsettling. That and I really didn't want to see how Anakin was gonna react because it would not be good.

* * *

John POV

My return to Kamino was met with a _Hero's Welcome_ according to Cortana. She had shared the Holovid footage that I was going to use to learn Vaapad with the Cuy'val dar and the Spartans, but the clones soon learned some of what happened. When I returned I was greeted to a small stream of people, who had seen my fight with Master Windu, and wanted to congratulate me on a battle well fought. When I finally met up with Cortana and asked why she did it she gave as innocent a smile as a demigod born from the God of tricks could muster, which is to say very innocent looking as she was a very convincing actress, and at getting what she wanted, and said because she can. I left it at that not wanting to even try to figure out what was going on in her head as I would just get lost. It got so bad I even had Halsey come and congratulate me.

'Very impressive John. We taught you well.' I couldn't take it any more, I didn't deserve this praise.

'I lost.' Halsey nod. She probably already knew my thoughts on all this, she knew all of the Spartans better than we knew ourselves, or even each other.

'You did. But that is because you were missing something. You had your sword but not your shield. Spartans report to the main auditorium immediately. It's time I showed you something.' All Spartans in the crowd snapped to attention, me included, and made our way to the auditorium.

Once we had all filed in Halsey took to the stage. Kal Skirata was on her right and Walon Vau on her left.

Jango and Halsey had a falling out some years back on our training and the training of the clones. It eventually lead to Halsey removing Jango as head instructor for our continued training and she gave the position to Kal Skirata. We liked him more than Jango as he embraced his Mandalorian heritage and didn't shun it like Jango did. He was sort of like a step dad, I suppose. While Kal didn't follow the Gods that was okay, we Spartans never took our belief in them as far as the Immortals anyway.

We knew the Gods had influence over the galaxy and sort to remind the Mandalorian people about the Gods so that they could better resist their influences and pass their trials, not because we were fanatics that took our worship to the extreme. We knew the Gods and followed their wants, that was it. We still lived our lives how we wished not how they dictated we live, not like the Immortals did. This helped with our relationship with Skirata and allowed it to become a tighter bond than the one we shared with Walon Vau, who was just as fanatical as the Immortals.

'Today you will bare witness to the greatest suit of armour the galaxy has ever seen, it was made for each of you and will increase your capabilities by a minimum factor of 3. Most of you will experience improvements of around a factor of 5, some may even improve more. That is, if you can even use it.' A Holovid started to play. A clone was getting into a set of advanced armour by some Kaminoan scientists and they were helping him to get it on.

'CC-1119 please describe your experience as we go through this test. Please describe the suit.' The Kaminoans were attaching wires to the armour and hooking it up to a computer to monitor it. Once the clone was inside the armour he stopped moving but started to describe the suit.

'It comfy, really comfy. You can hardly feel it, almost like it was just another set of cloths. The helmet gives great view but limits peripheral vision. You said the suit was designed for extensive use, so recycles our waste but I'm not trying that.' They carried on like they didn't even hear him.

'We will be powering up the suit. Once the suit has power we cannot deactivate it until we take it off of you. It is also resistant to EMP so is very unlikely to fail at any point even with months of use.'

'Understood. Ready for powered test.' The Kaminoans must have turned it on because a golden glow washed over the suit before disappearing.

'CC-1119 please move your fingers and clench your hand.' The clone replied an affirmative and started to move his hand. The break reverberated off the walls of the testing room only to be followed by the sound of more bones breaking in rapid succession and screams of pain so intense they chilled you to the bone. The Kaminoans were scrambling to remove the armour but the clone fell silent long before they got it off. Halsey kept playing the video, showing us the troopers mangled corpse until they had taken him away. Once she turned it off Halsey stepped to the edge of the stage to address us again.

'Any questions?' I raised my hand and asked.

'When do we try?' With this armour being made for Spartans I knew we could use it without any problems. Besides, with this armour I could beat the Jedi even without revealing the Spartan Sabers second form. I thought it best not to use it against Windu incase a Spartan was ever sent after a Jedi, no point in showing them a hidden weapon that could be used to kill them lest they form a counter to it.

'Right now.' It felt like a second skin. It felt like home.


	8. Chapter 8

Rex POV

Geonosis was called hell for a reason, and not just 'cause we ODST's jumped first. The battle went wrong right from the start. We had to scramble the army so quickly we didn't have time to recall the Spartans that were out in the field, leaving us only 4 for the assault, Jerome and Isabel of Red team and Jai and Adriana of Grey team. The Master Chief eventually became involved in the assault, after finally being recalled, but only in its final stages, he was a welcome sight to all.

We were all sent to Geonosis to rescue some Jedi trapped there and to disable as many factories as we could before we were recalled off planet, we weren't gonna stick around it seemed. We didn't deploy with our commanding officers as we were coming from Kamino and they needed to come from Coruscant so we were to meet over Geonosis, this was to reduce travel time from around two days to go from one system to the next, to only needing a few hours as we head straight to the front.

Once we arrived in the system training kicked in, bridge crews called for all ground forces to ready and for all ODST's to enter their pods. We hopped into the damn Eggs and were told we were to secure the Jedi VIP's before moving on to secure a beachhead around the arena and to take out any AA guns we could, to stop them shooting down our gunships. It was around this time that the Admirals and Generals were getting to their bridges.

When they got to the bridge they called for an immediate delay on further drops, thinking ODST was a special kind of missile or something from how bridge crews tell it, when they heard the Deck Officers ordering their crew to _start firing the ODST's_. Seems like they didn't brush up on their new manuals, on the different troops, that they all received before arriving at Geonosis.

Problem was around a third of us had already jumped, me included.

When we landed in hell only a quarter of all ODST personnel were planetside with two thirds stuck on the ships. The new officers wanted to punch a hole through the blockade around the planet before deploying ground troops. Once they did they fired the ODST at the same time as launching the gunships, getting most of them shot down and reducing the effectiveness of the ODST's as the gunship reinforcements were only minutes behind, meaning there was no point even sending the rest of the pods.

Before the fleet broke through the ODST's that did drop landed right into the fire as we found ourselves under fire from the droids in the arena, it looked like they were herding the survivors into the centre but I couldn't be sure. I even saw Mace Windu kill Jango Fett but put it out of mind, we had a job to do.

After clearing the arena we spent too much time trying to convince the Jedi we were here to help leaving us with little time to secure the arena and no time at all to take out any AA guns outside of it, the Jedi weren't helping us and we didn't have enough men to push an assault as we were already being overwhelmed. When reinforcements did arrive, and the Jedi took command of the ground troops, they kriffed that up too.

Instead of using our Special Forces Divisions like the special forces they were, the Jedi used them like regular infantry and sent them in as part of the main assault on the factories. I hear Mace Windu had ten, _ten_ , Commando squads under his command and the di'kut just charged in and got most of the squads under his command wasted, they had to rebuild the squads and put the survivors together to make Omega and Veshok squads. Delta was the only squad under Windus command to get out intact.

From what I heard from the boys still on Kamino, who were finishing their training at the time, Halsey was so furious with how the special forces were mishandled she had the Chancellor ready to jump from a window before he managed to calm her down with promises that all Admiralty and Generals were to be retrained to handle the Spec op forces. He even made her the head of his new intelligence division, ONI, that would help coordinate all Spec Ops missions, as well as lead the new Military Intelligence. The only condition was some Jedi, just a handful, were to be assigned to her command.

We eventually started to gain some ground but then the clanking shabuir started to send in their armour divisions while we were still securing the LZ and command centers. We only just pushed them back thanks to our heavy ordinance and the AT-TE tank crews.

Once we finally off loaded all of our vehicles and armour we started to push up to the droid facilities. Spartan Fireteams Red and Grey had already destroyed two while the droid army focused on the landing troops, leaving the ODST's to focus on any droids that remained near the arena. The two Fireteams were then redirected to deal with some of the droid power plants that were powering the factories. The power plants were located near to the arena so Halsey, finally regaining some control over the first wave of ODST's, ordered us to assist the Spartans in taking the facilities and either repurposing or destroying them.

I've fought with the Jedi in many battles in the coming months of the war, but watching the Spartans was something else. For all of the skill and abilities the Jedi possessed they were never raised to be soldiers or generals, the Spartans were.

We stormed the power plants and took command of them in record time. If the Spartans had taken command of the assault from the beginning, instead of just picking troops to complete their assigned missions, this whole thing would have gone a lot better.

After the first few hours of the assault the Jedi seemed to get their osik together as things started to finally come together. I hear Windu even lead some key victories once he started to learn how to lead clone troopers. Windu's remaining Theta and Delta squads took a droid foundry located in the catacombs but lost most of Theta. A much better outcome than storming a facility with ten squads and coming back with 7

After the Spartans and ODSTs took the power plants, those of us who could link back up with our legions and battalions were ordered regroup with them while the rest stayed under Spartans command for the rest of the battle. Eventually these men were transferred to the Master Chief's command so as to free up the two Fireteams for more covert missions. I wasn't to sure what happened to them under his command, ONI ordered everything about the missions served under the Spartans to be classified, even what we did with Fireteams Red and Grey, but from what they could tell the rest of us they got involved in some deep shit and the Chief pulled them out of the fire. You could hear the respect in their voices every time they talked about him.

I served back under the 501st for the rest of the battle. We didn't get any fancy missions, we just became another part of the front line assault, but we did manage to recover some sensitive intel dropped by a Geonosian bug bastard on the top of a down techno union ship.

From what I've been told, and could gleam from my time under the command of General Skywalker and our time alongside General Kenobi, the two engaged Count Dooku near the end of the battle which resulted in General Skywalker's arm having to be replaced.

After the battle was over we needed to refill the ranks with new troops, to replace those lost in the battle, as only around half survived the battle and 36% were still able to fight. Shinies were pulled from training if they only had a month or two left of training and were posted around the galaxy onto defencive posts or on important listening stations, early warning outposts and medical stations. The troops originally stationed there were used to refill the ranks apart from the officers, as they were needed to direct the rookies.

A lot of clones who participated in the assault earned medal but it was the ODST's that first touched down planetside that got the highest honor. Once word of our achievements, being cut off from our reinforcements, only being at quarter strength when we all finally landed and the performance we gave under the Spartans, got out all members of the first wave of ODSTs were given the Jaig Eyes by the Cuy'val Dar. The Jaig Eyes was the highest honor a Mandalorian could receive and they could only be given by a superior. It was the eyes of the Shriek Hawks, the greatest predators found on Mandalore, who were so fearsome and deadly it took teams of the best Mandalorian to kill just one.

I was personally promoted to Legion Captain and placed as second in command after General Skywalker, but I was still an ODST and I used that training to lead my troops from the front. The General even took an basic ODP course so that he could drop with the rest of the ODSTs. General Kenobi refused but then again the 212th were known for their Gunship pilots, unlike us who had the best ground assault squads of any battalion.

* * *

Rex POV

'Hold the line! HOLD THE LINE!' After the failed preemptive assault on the droid forces on Christophsis, and the disaster of Slicks betrayal and sabotage of the base, we were being assaulted by the remaining Separatist forces. The fighting had been going on for the past two days before being tentatively reinforced by a small contingent of Commands, three squads, and by the Master Chief himself. He had only arrived in the past hour but he and the Commandos were pushing the clankers back faster than we had been before handl. A heavy thud came from beside me.

'Captain. What's the situation?' The Master Chief had arrived.

'These clanker's are pushing hard, sir. We've been holding the line while we wait for the General to rendezvous with us.' The Chief nodded.

'We need to press the advantage. We can't wait on the General to arrive otherwise we will lose the momentum.' I nodded. The General was planning a flanking maneuver but we needed to push these clankers back, otherwise they could overrun the gun encampments. The Master Chief lead the counter offensive alongside the Commando squads while the rest of the troops and I covered from behind. We were making good progress, before long we broke the lines and were in front of the droid armour columns.

'Captain! We need anti-armour.' The Commando heavy ordnance troops were doing the best they could but there weren't many of them, just one per squad.

'HEAVYS! YOUR UP!' The heavy troopers pulled up to the front and started firing on the AAT's and Tank droids, destroying a fair amount of them. The droids were starting to cut their losses and retreat. We kept firing on them but the Master Chief ordered not to give chase, so we didn't get caught behind enemy lines and get flanked ourselves.

After securing our position against further assault General Skywalker arrived with the rest of the battalion, having also routed the droids on the flank.

'Rex. Looks like you didn't need help after all.' The General was purposely looking away from the Chief. There was history between the two but I didn't know what it was, the General wasn't talking.

Skywalker was one of the more outspoken critiques of the Spartans within the Republic, the Master Chief in particular. We in the 501st thought it strange, and brought it up with him, but he brushed it off as not trusting a section of the military that didn't have any true oversight and was instead directed by the spooks in ONI, who had garnered a reputation for being very shady in their business while still being considered trustworthy. General Kenobi said Skywalker and the Chief had an encounter in the past and left it at that, he too was a bit sceptical of the Spartans but was generally accepting of them as a whole, or at least open to the idea of them proving themselves.

'Thanks to the Master Chief and the Commandos we were able to push the clankers back sir.' The General turned to the Master Chief.

'And what are _you_ doing here?' For a member of an Order that didn't like emotions that wasn't the friendliest of tones.

'After the failed first offensive, and the betrayal of Clone Trooper Slick, I was dispatched to assist in removing the Separatist forces. We also have some limited supplies to help relieve the troops.' The General was reluctant to accept the help of the Master Chief but we needed those supplies so he accepted, if only grudgingly.

'Alright. All forces regroup back at base. We need to prepare for another assault.' We had only just started to head back when the Chief spoke up.

'Sir, we need to take out their artillery and anti air guns. I need a group of 5 to assist me and the Commandos.' General Skywalker didn't look happy to be questioned.

'Well I order you to return to base along with **all** clone trooper.' The General was squaring up to the Chief. This didn't look good, especially because the Master Chief turned to face the General square on as well.

'With all due respect _sir_ , but Jedi don't command Spartans.' The General didn't like the Chiefs tone apparently.

'Well I _do_ command **my** trooper, and I say they are to return to base.' The Chief took a step towards Skywalker.

'And I can pull any troops I need from your command until I complete my mission, to push back these droids, and to do that I need to take out those guns which means, I need your men.' The General looked like he was gonna get his lightsaber out, and start something we really didn't need right now.

'Sir, he's right. The droids have been hammering us with those guns and we need to take them out.' The General was still angry, he didn't like when people told him what to do, but he understood the need to get rid of the guns. Eventually he allowed some of us to go with the Spartan but I was to lead the 501st troops that went with the Master Chief, the General said he trusted me to see this through.

He made a point of looking into the Spartan's visor with that. It was a parting shot that landed very close to home for someone like the Chief, as the Spartans took pride in completing missions others couldn't. To imply that he needed me to finish the mission for him didn't go down well but the Master Chief held his peace.

The General lead the rest of the men back to base while my men and I followed the Chief and the Commandos on an assault on the gun encampments. I don't know why but I felt the need to defend the General's actions.

'He's not usually like this, you know. We've had a tough few days with limited supplies so the Generals been wound tight. He didn't mean any of it.' The Master Chief shook his head.

'A good commander needs to separate his emotions from the mission at hand, if he doesn't the whole mission is at risk. They also need to put aside personal history so they can work with others they may not like to achieve mission objectives and goals. General Skywalker knows we need to disable the guns but refused to work with me, and put the mission at risk by denying me the men I need to complete this mission.' He was right of course, the General had been needlessly antagonistic.

'If you don't mind me asking sir, but, do you two have history? It's just I've never seen you work with the General before and I've been a part of the 501st since Geonosis.' The Chief turned his head to me and then to the Jaig Eyes above my visor.

'First wave?'

'Yes sir. But I was transferred back to my Legion before I could serve under your command.' He seemed to take a second to decide on what he was going to say next.

'Two years ago, on a training assignment to Coruscant, I encountered a Jedi pair, Master Kenobi and his Padawan, Skywalker, Skywalker engaged me after ordering me to hand over the men I was sent to capture. I was obviously taking too long deciding because he made to engage. I disabled him and took his lightsaber before a brief engagement with General Kenobi, at which point my partner extracted the targets, so I made to retreat. Once on Kamino Skywalkers blade was used as the base template. by Dr. Halsey, to design and create the Spartan Saber.' That ought to do it. The General could be very laid back and calm when he wanted to be but his abilities meant he didn't take losing well, something we, in the 501st, didn't have much experience with thankfully.

The rest of the trip to the gun encampments was quiet. It was a refreshing change to operate under such a trained and, well, military competent commander. Serving under the General was good but it wasn't what we were trained to expect, no Jedi was, so it was nice to serve under a commander that knew what they were doing for a change, rather than one that came up with plans on the go. I reckon Cody had it good like that with a General like Kenobi. The way I hear it he had training in Mandalorian tactics and warfare, for some reason, by order of the Jedi Council along with General Skywalker. Skywalker doesn't seem to use any of it, like Cody said Kenobi does, for some reason.

Once we reached the encampment the Chief split us into 3 teams, a sniper team to lay down cover fire and two teams that mixed the Commandos and 501st. The Chief lead team one and they would make the frontal assault on the guns to draw the defence forces away from the guns. I was to lead team two and flank the guns to the right. Once team one engaged the droid forces and drew out the defenders I would lead my team to kill all droid gunners before destroying the guns. We had the most important job as the sooner the guns were destroyed the sooner we could get out. We didn't need to kill all of the droids just get rid of the guns, each droid destroyed was just a bonus.

Chiefs team made a fast push up to the guns, moving from cover to cover. They finally stopped about 200 yards from the guns and was laying down a blanket of blaster fire. Droids don't have self preservation instincts so they just march out towards team one. Droidekas rolled to take the front of the droid formation but the Chief and Commandos took aim at them before they could deploy their shields. About 5 were down before the other 3 got their shields up. That was our signal.

'This is it boys. Take down those guns.' I took the lead and leaped over the barricade we had hidden behind. I always thought that a good commander needed to lead from the front but understood the importance of commanders like Kenobi and Cody, it just wasn't for me. As an ODST my training gave me a greater desire to lead from the front and the training needed to do it. We received little fire, some droids had turned to fire on us but not many, it seems the Chief was keeping them occupied.

I had the most Heavys in my team as we had to destroy the guns and I had them start to rig up explosives, those on team one were focusing on the Droidekas, and strap them to the ammo supplies next to the guns while the rest of our team took care of whatever droids remained. We then moved onto the droids engaged with team one from behind to try and thin their numbers.

'Captain! We have enemy armour incoming.' What?!

'They shouldn't have been able to reinforce this position so quickly.' They must have been regrouping for another assault and diverted some forces to retake the guns when the encampment sent their distress signal.

'You two get on those guns and fire on those tanks.' The two selected jumped on the guns and aimed them at the oncoming armoured division.

The Master Chief had just broke through the rest of the defence force and had come to see what the men were firing at.

'Captain. What's going on?'

'Enemy armour sir. They must have regrouped for another assault and diverted here when they heard the distress signal. I put two of the men on the guns to slow them down but they will overrun us soon and we can't out run them. We need to detonate the guns.' The Chief shook his head.

'No. Find a transport, they need to resupply this post at some point, see if you can find one that can carry as many men as possible and empty it of anything inside. We're retreating.' So we were running and gunning then.

'Yes sir.' I took three more of the men and went looking for a transport. We didn't find any ground vehicles but did find a transport ship that we could use. I had the men clear out the ship while I reported back to the Chief.

'Good work Captain, load the men and I will pilot the ship.' I nodded.

'What about the guns sir? We came here for reason.' We didn't find any remote detonators so we needed to be relatively close so as to detonate the bombs. The Chief just nodded.

'The gunners stay behind and cover our retreat, and one blows the guns when the armour gets too close.' I was horrified. We were just going to leave them, abandon them. I chose those two men to man the guns, not to sacrifice their lives.

'Sir, you can't be serious.' He was.

'We need the gunners to cover our retreat otherwise we will be shot down and all of us will be killed, that's even if we destroy the guns. I won't waste the lives of my men, Captain, but I will spend them. If two men have to die to destroy these guns and take out as many tanks as they can then thats two lives well spent. Or, would you rather waste all of our lives trying to exac everyone?' He was right. Two men was a small price for this mission. My problem wasn't that men were going to die it's that we were going to order them to sacrifice themselves so we could get away. But he was right.

'Understood sir. I'll load the rest of the men.' He sent me off so he could tell the gunners their new mission. At least he was honest with them. The Commando accepted quickly but the 501st trooper I ordered on the gun didn't want to stay. The Commando convinced him that if they went they would die anyway and that he would rather die in a blaze of glory killing as many clancker's as possible, something any 501st could get behind. The Chief thanked them for their sacrifice and asked for their names. The Commando was Sticks and the trooper was Camper. At least he cared enough to know who he was sacrificing, most commanders wouldn't.

He quickly returned to the ship and got in the pilot's seat and I took the copilots. We swung round to pick up the sniper team before heading off to base. We were just taking off again when we heard a massive explosion. I closed my eyes and bowed my head.

'You're a good commander, Captain. You need to care about the men under your command but also have to be ready to use them to finish your objective. It's not easy to order your men to their deaths and you shouldn't do it without first considering every other option. But sometimes you don't have a choice.' I opened my eyes and raised my head.

'I understand Sir, it's just hard.' He nodded, understanding what I meant.

'If it ever becomes easy you shouldn't be in command.' We were silent for the rest of the trip, thinking over the Master Chief's words until I needed to contact the General to tell him about the incoming Separatist shuttle we were in.

'How did it go Rex?' He was making sure to ignore the Chief again. I guess this was the best we could hope for when concerning the General.

'We managed to destroy the guns but a column of enemy armour was about to overrun our position, we think the droids have regrouped and are planning another assault and the column they send to retake the guns was just a part of it. We put two men on the guns to cover our retreat and blow the guns when the tanks finally reached them.' The General's face darkened.

'Let me guess, the _Spartan's_ idea.' The Chief did his best to save as many as he could, we destroyed the guns to save even more men from bombardment in future assaults, he didn't deserve this.

'No sir. It was the idea of a good commander. One who understands that sometimes men need to be sacrificed to save the rest. A commander who doesn't take his decision lightly.' General Skywalker looked taken aback.

'I'm sorry Rex, I wasn't thinking straight. I apologise.' I nodded.

'I understand sir. We will be landing in around 10 minutes.' I cut off communications before he had time to respond.

'Thank you.' I turned to the Master Chief.

'No. I should never have questioned your decision, you tried to save as many as you thought you were able. You shouldn't be reprimanded for that.' Once we got to base we were redirect to help repel the coming droids.

This stop start fighting would continue on for the next few days before finally the droid gave us some rest. We only had about a day or two to rest and regain supplies and troops from Admiral Yularen before they hit us again, only problem was the damn tinnies cut off communication.

Kenobi and the Chief lead the latest ground assault on the B-1's and 2's, while Skywalker and I used jump jets to deal with the Octuptarra Magna Droids. We had only just routed them when supplies finally arrived.

It turned out we weren't getting supplies as all we got was a new Padawan youngling. She stepped of the ramp and introduced herself.

'Hello. My name is Ahsoka Tano and I'm the new Padawan learner.' General Kenobi was polite about it, as he always was, but Skywalker had no such reservations. He had been expecting relief supplies and he wasn't getting any, on top of that he was being recalled to the Jedi Temple along with Kenobi.

The Master Chief was coming over to inspect our new supplies when a second figure started to make their way down the ramp. It was a slim figure with blue and white clone armour but they definitely weren't a member of the 501st I've ever seen. They had a sort of black diamond on their shoulder, an ONI spook then. They then took off their helmet.

'And I'm Cortana.' The small smile on her face was so beautiful I couldn't speak for a moment. The Chief didn't have the same problem though.

'What took you so long.' This Cortana _sauntered_ towards the Chief who didn't even move.

'You're the one who didn't call me back.' She had just draped herself over him and his armour but he still didn't move. You gotta give the guy credit, he had an iron will. I'm not sure I would have the same restraint if a girl like that did the same to me. 'I was beginning to think you didn't like me any more.'

'No chance of that happening any time soon.' The Chief was flirting…?! Kriffing hell, I just had impure thoughts about the Chief's girl. If he ever found out I was dead for sure.

'Halsey sent me to reestablish contact. Mommy was worried when you did call her to tell her you were staying out late.' General Kenobi looked very amused but Skywalker less so.

'I'm staying over at a… _friends_ … house.' Cortana looked scandalised.

'A girls house?' Chief shook his head.

'A Pixies.' Cortana threw her head back and laughed. Must be an inside joke or my humor was suppressed by the Kaminoans 'cause I didn't get it.

* * *

Rex POV

General Skywalker had me escort his new Padawan around the base, get her familiar with the way things are run around here.

'If you move the cannons back they will have more cover that way.' 2 seconds and she was a military expert huh.

'And reduce their range allowing tanks to get closer to them, taking them out easier.' She looked sullen but perked up quick.

'If you're a Captain and I'm a Jedi then, technically I outrank you.' She had a lot to learn before she was anywhere close to outranking me.

'In my book experience outranks everything.' She was eager I would give her that. It would help her a lot out on the frontline.

'Then I had best get some.' War was horrible. It was something no one should be eager for.

'Then you really are a youngling if you think like that.' She didn't like the dismissive tone of my voice and leapt to her own defence.

'Hey. What do you mean and just because you're older doesn't make me young.' Huh.

'This war is hell, we ODST's are called hell jumpers for a reason, and until you experience a hell like Geonosis you will always be young. But that's a good thing, no one should go through that shit again. OH, uhhh… I mean, no one should go through that again. Sorry. Besides I'm only ten years old, I'm even younger than you, accelerated aging.' She looked curious.

'You were there on Geonosis?' Best disillusion her of the _glory of war_ here and now before the war did it for me. I thumbed my Jaig Eyes.

'That's right. I was an ODST, and part of the first drop. We were sent to rescue the Jedi and then secure a landing zone.' We stopped at the command center and took a seat outside.

'Was it as bad as they say?' She looked a bit more subdued than before.

'No. It was worse. The planet, the clankers and the bugs were bad enough but the way it was handled made it much, much worse. It was a cluster fuck, no two ways about it. The Jedi were never taught to lead troops and it showed. They eventually got their act together but it was too little too late. I have no idea why the Chancellor gave the Jedi command when we had trained officers already. Uh, no offensive to the Jedi or anything but you just weren't taught to command troops like we were.' She seemed to understand.

'I get it. To be honest the closest I've ever been to a real battle was watching a fight between Master Windu and a Mandalorian. Come to think of it they were wearing repainted clone trooper armour just like that girl from before. You wouldn't know anything about that would you?' 'course I would. It was the talk of the town for a time. That and the Chiefs Vornskr pet that he brought back with him. I hear they were thinking of making a canine division with a whole pack of the things but nothing came of it.

'That would be the Master Chief, the one you saw talking to Cortana before. She's his personal operator as he doesn't have an in field partner like the other Spartans.' Her surprise was written all over her face.

'That hulking behemoth was the Mandalorian that fought Master Windu? He has to be around 16 years old now, no way it could be him.' I smiled in amusement.

'It was, and gave the Jedi a right challenge too, the way I hear it. He was trained tougher than even the clone Commandos. I would have been happier if the Spartans lead us as the Generals instead of the Jedi, as they have at least been trained to command troopers. The only problem is there just isn't enough of them. I wouldn't have too much of a problem if the Jedi even bothered to learn about our people, the Mandalorians, but they don't, no Jedi does, and they just treat us with contempt if we try to practise our culture and beliefs. Well, that's from what I've seen from a few of the other divisions anyway, but General Skywalkers pretty relaxed about that sort of thing, same as General Kenobi.' She looked to be genuinely interested in the subject.

'After watching the fight with Master Windu I got as much information on the Mandalorians as I could but the Jedi Council restricted all but the basics. We have a new Master, Master Bnar, and he knows _so much_ about them. He can answer all of my questions on them. I hear he was even teaching a few of the Jedi some of the ways the Mandalorians fought but he wouldn't let me join when I asked.' That was interesting. She was young but Mando's start training early too and she was about the right age to join her parents in the field if she had been brought up as one.

'I could teach you if you like. ODST's are given a full course in basic and advanced Mandalorian traditions and customs along with being taught Mando fighting styles and tactics.' Her eyes lit up.

'Really?'

'Really. You will need to learn how to use a blaster though, and how to fight without a weapon or anything you can get your hands on, so we only do this if you really want to learn.' Everyone's thought about why we are fighting, what we want to do when we no longer have to fight, don't let any clone tell you otherwise. I'm fighting so that my children won't have to suffer under horrors that I can't even imagine. This would be some good practise before having kids of my own.

'I'd love to.' Good. This would help her in the field. I understood that I was basically instructing my commanding officer on how to send me into battle and I got the irony of the situation but Mando culture had such a loose command structure anyway that it wasn't odd for children to be put in command of their parents if they proved to be good enough so it wasn't a big issue.

* * *

John POV

Cortana lead me to one of the broken buildings overlooking the planet surface. It wasn't much to look at but her attention was more focused on the sun coming over the horizon.

'I've missed you John.' I just nodded but she got the message. I missed her too.

'It's not the same using a hologram or the comms all of the time. Whip misses you too, starts scratching on your door every night before giving up and going to sleep on your bed. Thankfully Vornskr don't molt much otherwise I would have to change the sheets every day.' Cortana and I shared a room just like all Spartan pairs did. Halsey said it was to promote unit cohesion but that did quite fit, Halsey nearly always had another motive for what she was doing. We had Whip sleep with us. I had originally named Whip as Hunter after the Vornskrs Jedi hunting abilities but, as usually, I was overruled by a majority vote that consisted solely of Cortana. Apparently we don't name pets after species traits but after more personal traits or physical characteristics. Whip liked to lash out with his tail more than normal Vornskr, to wrap it round a foot or leg and trip people up, it was a habit I had yet to break.

I had originally argued he wasn't a pet but a military asset that would join me on missions to planets were we would be facing against sentient lifeforms, as I hadn't yet finished his training to attack droid on command like I had with his organic attack training. But, as was becoming a recurring theme with Cortana, she ignored my valid reasoning and started calling him Whip until that was the only name he responded to. It didn't help me any that while I was his strict trainer Cortana snuck him treats when he wasn't supposed to have any or indulge his lazy tendencies when I wasn't around to enforce his strict training regime. This lead to a sort of soldier and officer bond between us, respectful and obedient but a little distant. He was basically off duty around Cortana and on duty around me.

He still followed me over Cortana but did enjoy time with her. I wasn't always training with him and we did have down time together, which lead to a closer bond, but Cortana was still his favourite.

'Once this mission is over I am scheduled for down time.' Her bitter snort was telling.

'Unless you get another _urgent mission_ again.' It had happened 3 times now where I never got back to Kamino for my scheduled down time as I was being redirected elsewhere. It had interrupted our plans every time and it was starting to grate on her nerves. I looked at her and saw tears in her eyes. I pulled her into a hug.

'It's not fair John.' It wasn't but I knew what my duty was and it had to be done.

'The more missions I do the sooner this war ends. The sooner this war ends the more time we have.' Her tears were streaming down her face but I didn't hear any sound from her but her voice, and a few hiccups here and there.

'They should get someone else to do it. Even the clones stationed in the outer rim get more down time than you.' It was true but they weren't as vital to the war effort as the Spartans were. At least the other Spartans were deployed with their partner but I was half the galaxy away from mine until it was absolutely necessary, either for her to join me, like now, or for me to join her, when I was finally given leave.

'You know that's not how it works.' She tightened her arms around me.

'The Spartans may be a repressive lot but they still feel love, John. Why do they get to spend all the time in the galaxy with their love but I don't get any with mine?' Each pair was a boy and a girl and they all had, at least, a tentative romantic bond with each other. Mandalorians didn't discriminate against sexuality but, all the same, members of the same sex couldn't reproduce.

Halsey assigned the pairs on personality traits. She said it was to reduce friction between the pairs but I thought otherwise and so did Cortana. Halsey made a big deal about us being Mandalore's future and a woman like Doctor Halsey didn't talk about protecting Mandalore's future without ensuring that it was in safe hands. Cortana and I reckon she assigned the pairs knowing we would form romantic bonds, which would lead to us creating the next generation of Spartans in the future.

I should feel upset that Halsey was meddling in something as precious as this but Spartans had their whole lives planned out for them so why not love too. Besides, there were businesses out in the Galaxy that made money and built their whole business around pairing individuals together romantically. It made me feel better that Halsey was doing it as I knew she at least cared about us when she made the matches. That and she gave me Cortana and I couldn't imagine life without my little Pixy gift from the Gods.

My only problem was not getting to spend much time with her as I liked. After this I was going with her back to Kamino even if I had to disobey orders to do it.

'You know, you have my blessing if you ever need to.' In Mandalorian culture partners could be apart for a long time and this could cause urges, either sexual or romantic, and we Mandalorians knew that they had to be sated or they would begin to fester, so we came up with a sort of proxy lover system. So long as you had your partners blessing you could have another lover, or even another boyfriend or girlfriend if you need that kind of attention. I knew Cortana was lonely and if she needed someone than I would let her have someone. I would give her anything. She looked up at me and had her sly little smirk on her. It didn't fit to well with her red eyes but at least she wasn't crying anymore.

'And you have mine. That togruta from before was cute don't you think, brazen too, don't you think so John.' I snorted.

'I know a trap when I see one.' Her smirk spread across the rest of her face.

'I've trained you well.' Her hands reached up and grabbed the sides of my helmet. My hands shot up to grasp hers, holding them firmly but nothing that would cause pain.

'Not here.'

'I just want to…' I shook my head.

'I know, but not here. When we're alone.' She didn't like it but relented, knowing how much I valued my privacy. Just then an explosion went off and we rushed to see what it was. The droids were mounting another offensive and they were accompanied by a Deflector Shield.

'You wanted experience little one, well you're about to get some.' Seems the Padawan was left in the Captain's care.

'Stop calling me that.'

'Would you prefer Snips?' It looked like those two were getting along well.


	9. Chapter 9

Hevy POV

I remember the final months of our training. It was a bit rushed and it really showed in us. We were nearly transferred to the maintenance division because we failed the final test. Luckily one of our trainers saw some promise in us and let us try again. We nearly didn't pass then either, if I didn't get a wake up call by a true soldier, 99, we wouldn't have. I don't care what anyone else says he was a true soldier and Mandalorian. He even gave me a name and I will forever be grateful to him for that. Before him I coasted along, drifting, not really having a place. But 99, he gave me a name, gave me a life.

We even received medals after passing and were lauded as one of the best teams to come out of training, not as good as those who were trained as the Spec Op forces but the troopers most likely to be accepted into their ranks. Dr. Halsey herself came to congratulate us and said we were ODST material, if we survived.

Huh, no trouble of that here on the Rishi Moon outpost. We were rushed out of training a few months early to free up troops to join those who were left from Geonosis, to replace those who made the ultimate sacrifice. It was a dead end assignment that was boring as all hell, and with someone like Echo repeating protocol in your ear all the time it was just wearing away at my patience. I could understand if we were out on the front where the regulations were there to help us to better do our jobs, but out here we should be able to take it down a notch and relax.

'Face it Echo, this is one of the most boring jobs. You just don't know it yet.' A gruff, no nonsense voice sounded off behind me.

'And one of the most important.' Shit.

'Attention. Sargent on deck.' The Sarge then went on to talk about the importance of this post and why it was vital to Kaminos safety. He also said we were getting a couple of officers who were coming to inspect the outpost. Just great. Not even a week in and we were gonna be grilled by some jumped up trooper who probably only just finished officer training and was sent on an inspection run, 'cause they couldn't spare those who have real, combat experience, and they'll have a stick up their asses over regulation due to having just graduated.

We got the kit squared away in record time and now we just had to keep it that way until these officers arrived to bend us over the consoles and shove their regs up our collective asses.

I hate this place.

* * *

Rex POV

I hate this job. And the General knew it.

After the Malevolence incident I continued taking Ahsoka through basic Mando training and she was getting pretty good with a blaster too. We set up shop in the hangar as it offered more room and the General rarely came down if he didn't have a mission. While the General could be pretty relaxed and didn't mind the troops being Mandalorian I knew he didn't like Mandalorians as a whole. He saw them as indiscriminate killers who only cared about credits. The fact that we were an army and fought for something more than credits allowed the General to accept the clones despite being Mando's.

Or at least I thought he did. Turns out it just allowed him to bury his head in the sand. I trusted him to lead us into battle and he trusted me to do my job but he had some bad experiences with Mandalorians in the past. The fact that Jango tried to kill his friend Senator Amidala didn't help matters either.

When the General came across me teaching Ahsoka how to shoot he demanded to know what was going on. I tried to stutter out a response but I wasn't a good liar. He figured it out pretty quickly. The dressing down I received in front of the men wasn't pleasant. Ahsoka tried to help me out by saying she had asked for the training but Anakin just sent her to her quarters. Once she had left he turned back to me and put me on inspection duty with Cody. Inspection Duty was usually performed by an experienced officer and a new one so they can be shown the ropes and to make sure that no two senior officers were gone from the fleet at the same time. He was basically saying he trusted me as much as he trusted a Shiny.

The worst part was when after handing out my punishment detail he told me he thought he had my respect. I tried to argue that he did, I respect him as a General and as a person, that I would follow him anywhere but he just said if I did respect him I wouldn't have gone behind his back on something like this. He made sure to put special emphasis on the fact that Ahsoka was a Jedi and not a Mandalorian so didn't need to be trained as such.

By the end of it I had my head hung low in shame. I had disappointed him and broken his trust all at once just because I wanted to see what it would be like to teach someone to be Mandalorian. It didn't matter what might be once this war was over because it wasn't over yet, anything could happen between now and then so there was no point thinking about it. General Kenobi told me before I left that he would talk to General Skywalker to see if he could calm him down. I gave him my thanks and joined Cody on inspection duty.

* * *

Rex POV

We were on our way to the final outpost on the Rishi Moon. It was perhaps our most important so it had our most promising cadets on it.

I would say that things were going well, and that some time away from the General while he was still getting over his time with the Chief, did me some good but then I would be lying as Cody wouldn't shut up about why I started training Ahsoka.

'I mean, you know he doesn't like Mandalorians so what in hell were you thinking training his Padawan to be a Mandalorian?'

'She was curious, said she wanted to know about Mandalorian culture so I said I would teach her.' He hadn't let this go and still wouldn't.

'You did it 'cause she asked?. Yeah, pull the other one. No way you did it for that. Besides, if you teach someone Mando culture you eventually have to adopt them and no way any Jedi's gonna let that happen. We can trust them to lead us in battle and they can trust us to do our jobs but there is no way they are gonna allow any clone to adopt people into the faith. Even Kenobi's a bit weary around us when we mention the Gods, and he's the most accepting Jedi I've seen. So I really wanna know what was going through your head.' He was really started to get on my nerves. He hadn't let up at all over the past week of inspections and so I finally blew up at him.

'Look Cody. What do you want me to say. That I trained her so I could see what it was like, so I could get some experience for when I teach my own. That I really liked teaching her. That it kept me calm and relaxed in a way I've not felt in a long time. That training her, seeing her eagerness and joy at the training helped chase the nightmares away.' It was a lot to get off my chest and if Cody hadn't badgered me then I probably wouldn't have told anyone.

'Rex. There are other way to get rid of the nightmares. I may not have been on Geonosis but I know those who were. Some go see a counsellor when on shore leave at Kamino, you should to. There's no shame in it Rex, a lot still have nightmares, they called it hell for a reason didn't they, but teaching a Jedi will do nobody any good. Especially when it's Skywalker's Padawan.' I sighed. Geonosis haunts the dreams of many a clone, the sand, the heat, the noise, and I saw it every time I closed my eyes. Ahsoka distracted me, allowed me to look to the future rather than the past, and that allowed me to sleep easy.

'I know. It's just... I want some peace Cody, is that so bad, and teaching Ahsoka gave me some. Her innocence is a refreshing change from the constant war.' The rest of the trip was silent.

* * *

Rex POV

This wasn't off to a great start. There was no deck officer, boxes just piled on the sides of the platform. I already had a bad feeling about this and this wasn't helping. The doors opened and a trooper came walking out. As he was walking I noticed his whole stance was a bit off and his stunted speech didn't sit right with me. Now, neither was especially new as it did happen to some clones due to the cloning process going wrong in the final stages, but considering this outposts importance only the best of our new recruits would be stationed here and this trooper didn't look like he could hold a blaster right. Then there was the fact the was trying so hard to get us away from the outpost. I ordered him to take us to the Sergeant in command and he said Roger, Roger. _Roger, Roger_ was this some sort of joke. A droid attack flare went up from over the platform. Shit. I shot the trooper right in the forehead. Cody sounded shocked.

We were ambushed. I should have know that before we even touched down. In training it had been noted that I had a good sense of when an ambush was gonna happen. The trainers said I was just observant but I dunno. I could just _feel_ it, feel the danger like an otherworldly chill on the back of my neck. Like some sort of sixth sense. Most dismissed it but some of the others felt it too. We weren't sure what it was but I doubt it was just being good at noticing things.

The Droids were surrounding us so Cody and I hopped over the side using our ascension cables to repel down the canyon and landed near the wreckage of our ship, which had been destroyed in the ambush. That feeling was back and I wasn't going to ignore it this time.

3 clone troopers came out of the fire, they were most likely the survivors but with the chill in my neck I wasn't taking chances,.

'Take your buckets off. Now.' They were a bit slow but complied, good, these 3 followed orders well, I doubt they would cause problems for whoever they serve under in the future.

Once confirming that they were clones the Chill hadn't gone and I soon knew why. One of those Rishi Eels came out so it turned and fired. I knew I had hit it before I even fired. It was like something took my hand and aimed for me, like I could break out of their hold on me but I didn't 'cause I trust them. This guiding feeling felt like it came from the same otherworldly source as the Chill.

One of them congratulated me on my shot but there was no time for that now. We needed to retake this outpost and there was only 5 of us to do it. I left a handprint on Echos shiny new armour but it was Hevy that really stood out. A confident leader that had the respect of his men, Cody was right these guys may have been the best regulars ever trained on Kamino. They may even graduate to ARC or ODST in the future.

* * *

Rex POV

I think I was embarrassing Cody. My plan to impersonate a commando droid, turn their own tactics against them, would work but I didn't need to do such an exaggerated walk. Cody didn't share my sentiment, but I was confident, and for his _unflinching faith_ in me I was gonna do my best to embarrass him in front of the Shinys and then, I was gonna show him up. It was time to show these rookies what an ODST could do.

I probably waited longer to fire than I should but I couldn't help it, I had to make my entrance memorable if I wanted to show up Cody, I threw in a quippy one liner for the same reason. We dealt with the droids and moved up to the stairs. Hevy asked to take point, ha, he had the heart of an ODST all right and I was gonna do everything in my power to make sure he made it as one too. Only problem is he isn't ODST, I am, and I was Captain to boot so I always take point. Fives was shot during the assault but the others cleared the room quickly while I dealt with this commando droid who decided to bring a knife to a gunfight. My hand to hand training as an ODST kicked in and I smash the bucket of bolts up good.

We were trying to regain control of the outpost when Cody then alerted us to a fleet that was passing overhead. They were heading for Kamino. We tried to disable the all clear signal but there was no time to reverse the hardwiring the droids had done as we had clanker reinforcements incoming. Hevy, Cody and Fives went to hold them off while Echo and I took to setting up the liquid Tibana. As an ODST I was to be deployed behind enemy lines if necessary so I was taught insurgency skills like bomb making. I set up the explosive and wired two remote detonators, all clones were taught not to start a mission until you can guarantee the best odds and if the one with the clones with a detonator went down we still needed to blow this thing but we wouldn't have enough time to go back for them, so we needed two detonators. The fighting was picking up and Hevys Rotary Blaster was certainly making it self heard, lets just hope it was getting acquainted with the droids just as much.

When the three returned we quickly sealed the door and destroyed the control panel, it would slow them down but wouldn't stop them. I gave one of the detonators to Hevy and kept the other for myself. We took the same back exit that the boys used before to slip out as there was no way we were holding this base from all of those droids.

We had just slipped out and started to make our way to a little overhanging section of rocks, we weren't gonna chance the caves with those Rishi Eels about. When we were all under the rocks I ordered Hevy to detonate the bombs.

'Sir. The remote, it's not working.' He was starting to look panicked, I held up mine.

'And that boys is why we have two.' I hit the button and the whole base went up. We took cover under a ledge as the debris went falling past us.

'I always hated that place.' Huh, Hevy really was a trooper after my own heart. Echo decided to check on the status of the fleet and informed us that Kenobi and General Skywalkers fleet had just jumped into the system.

'We have those tinnies on the run.' And with that we were getting off this crater.

* * *

Rex POV

We had an award ceremony for the three troopers and welcomed them into the 501st. They were still regulars but if they carried on like this then they would join Spec Ops in no time. After the ceremony was over General Skywalker asked me to stay behind.

'I'm sorry Rex. I over reacted before and I shouldn't done it. You didn't deserve to be punished for it either.' I nodded.

'I understand General, and it was probably a good thing I was on this mission as I have no idea how it would have gone if I wasn't.' It was like some invisible hand was guiding me and my actions. Ha, Like that ever happened. What would do that anyway, the Gods? No way, they set up trials sure but they throw you into them, they don't subtly guide you to them and they don't give you a helping hand through them like I had with the Chill. So no, it wasn't the Gods. I was looking to deep into it anyway.

'Besides, I should be apologising. I know you don't like Mandalorians, especially with whatever happened between you and the Master Chief, so I should never have taught her anything. It was my fault not yours.' The General sighed.

'I'm sorry I gave you the impression that I hate Mandalorians Rex, I know how much being to identify with a group of people, being apart of that family, can mean to a person, what it means to you and the rest of the troopers. I don't hate Mandalorians, just had a few bad run-ins is all. It's just, the Jedi have become increasingly worried about Mandalore and the political climate there due to the Spartans, they don't like such an independent group having such leeway with the troops, and the fact that this army basically sprang up out of nowhere and was filled with troopers that were over 70% Mandalorian only confirmed their worries, at least in their eyes.' They thought we were going to start some sort of Mandalorian rebellion?!

'Sir, we would never…' He held up his hand.

'I know Rex and, in time, the council will too. But for now they need to be shown they can trust you, just as much as I do.' I thanked the General and he dismissed me. I was just reaching my quarters when Ahsoka reached me.

'Rex, you're back.'

'That's right. We had a bit of excitement on the last checkup but we sorted it out pretty good. Got three new troopers too, I think they're ones to watch out for.' Ahsoka nodded but look nervous.

'I'm sorry for getting you in trouble with Master Skywalker. If I knew I would never have asked.' So that was it.

'It's okay Snips. I know what the Generals like and should have known he wouldn't appreciate having me go behind his back like that, so it's my fault.' She nodded.

'We won't be able to continue training will we.' I sighed.

'No. The General won't allow it.' She looked disheartened. From the way the General tells it, about the thoughts of the Jedi order on Mandalorians, they must restrict information on us so that the younger members weren't influenced by us and our history, and to someone as determined as Ahsoka restricting information from her would only motivate her more. With the knowledge she seeks just out of reach it must be very frustrating.

'I can, however, share some old Mando stories on a datapad with you. As Mandalore has had an extensive warrior culture for so long it's only natural those stories are about war too. If you _somehow_ get detailed descriptions about battle tactics, well, it must be because you are so good at finding all the little details in the stories and putting together to find out what those old Mandos did. As for blaster practise, I can't stop you from doing it yourself as you are my superior. And you can always ask one of the boys if they have any tips. If I just so _happen_ to be making my rounds at the same time as you practice I could take some time to check in on you. To see if the gear is being properly maintained of course, not to oversee your training or something equal banned.' That certainly seemed to lift her mood and she excitedly thanked me before rushing off again. I chuckled in amusement as I entered my room. I knew the General wouldn't be happy about her continued training but she was so eager to learn and I really, really wanted to train her, anyone actually. All clones have thought about what to do when this war is over especially those who fought on Geonosis. And those on Geonosis especially knew that we may not even see the end of it so it was important to take any chance to fulfil your dream, so long as you didn't betray your brothers to do so.

I decided to take more safety precautions this time and had talked with some of the men stationed around the ship on multiple different shifts to warn me if the General was coming to the hanger around the time Ahsoka and I had scheduled our training sessions. They were good men and while they would inform the General if he asked them directly what Ahsoka and I were doing they wouldn't go out of their way to tell him. And with that Ahsoka's _Mandalorian cultural awareness lessons_ continued.

* * *

I didn't like this. This whole situation was avoidable if the General wasn't so attached to a kriffing droid. _A droid_ , of all things for a Jedi to get attached to why a droid, we were fighting a war against them for a reason. If he had just wiped that R2 unit this wouldn't have happened and now we were forsaking our mission of finding and destroying an enemy listening station, that was stealing valuable information that was resulting in thousands of clone casualties from various campaigns throughout the system. Even Commander Tano didn't like this anymore than me.

The General gave as flimsy an excuse as you could make before rushing of after the droid as quickly as possible. Don't get me wrong, I understood the need for getting the droid back, due the amounts of kriffing data it held on us and the rest of the clone army, and due to the time sensitivity of the droids location it was a smart choice to go after it first, but it was also something that didn't need to happen if he had just followed protocol.

And the worst part, the worst part was that following the droid lead us right to the listening station so the General was going to use this as vindication, that he was right for going after the damned droid. Maybe the droid did help us locate the station and maybe he was a help to the General when he was planning battles when he had all the extra information, but it was a massive security risk that didn't need to be there. At least Kenobi had sense.

Now we were going to infiltrate the station with this heap of scrap, an R3 unit, and Commander Tano was making me carry it. Oh, when we move onto hand to hand combat you are going to regret that decision Snips. Gods this was humiliating.

We landed on the station and the General cut our way in. Once in, the General decided it was _wise_ to split up so he could look for his damn droid. We finally reached a set of ray shielded doors that would lead us to the reactor room so we had to wait on the useless astromech with us to open them.

Osik. Clanckers were getting close to our position and were finally on top of us before the blasted mech could get the door open. The thing in fact made our job harder by closing the secondary blast doors. We thinned the droid numbers before using droid poppers on the Supers and B-1's. I was gonna get Hotwire to take a crack at it like he offered earlier, but our situation just got a whole lot worse as the head tinny just showed up. After a brief fight with General Grievous where he tossed us around like trash, and cut us to pieces, I lost 3 men and Hotwire and I were knocked out Ahsoka went off to fight him alone. When we came too I contacted the Commander and she order us to complete the mission. I wanted to go help but rationality won out. I may have been breed to be loyal and obedient but I would have disobeyed that girl in a heartbeat if I thought I would have made even the slightest bit of difference and could have helped her. I would have just gotten in the way, we needed to find the General, he was the only one who could help. I ordered Hotwire to open the doors and we planted the bombs before we made our way to get General Skywalker, he was the only one with a chance against Grievous.

Once we found the General we rushed back to where we last saw Ahsoka and were deciding what direct she could have taken when she dropped down from the ceiling, having been in the vents. After the General started to lecture the Commander on not taking on Grievous alone I reminded him we were running out of time so we made our way to the hanger. After boarding the Twilight we made our way out of the system and blew the station. I hope we got Grievous but I wouldn't count on it, that droid was a slippery little slime ball. After the General took control of the ship and plotted a course back to the fleet I went to join Ahsoka in the hold.

'So where's the droid?' She looked panicked, did she forget him on the station? If she did good riddance.

'Droid? What droid?' She was being very evasive.

'You know exactly what droid.' I crossed my arms.

'Oh him, uhh, well, Grievous. Yeah Grievous got him and he cut him up and he throw him round and he umm…' I just stared at her. Did she really think I was gonna buy that? She hung her head like a kid caught with their hand in a cookie jar. 'I shot him.'

'You what? Why? With what?' She turned around and grabbed something before turning back to me and handing me a Magnum, same make and model as mine, and the ones I had been teaching her to shoot.

'With this. He turned out to be a Separatist spy so I shot him before he could cause any trouble for the rest of you.' I took the gun from her hand.

'And where did you get this? Where were you even keeping it?' A valid question considering her outfit didn't have many places to hide things.

'In a thigh holster and I took it from the armoury.' She what?!

'You can't just take things from the armoury, there's a log. If anyone finds it missing then they will launch an inquiry, and when they find out you took it what do you think the General will do.' She looked down mollified. She needed to think more before she acted. I sighed and took out one of my pistols, holding it out to her.

'Here, take this one. They record serial numbers so yours has to go back but you can keep this one and I'll say I lost it against Grievous on the station. But you have to understand, I _lost_ this gun on the station okay. And because it was lost on a station that blew up and fell from low orbit no one will ever see it again. Got it.' She nodded so I gave her the pistol. Now I just needed to sneak this one back into the armoury and get a new one as I wasn't chancing holding onto a stolen pistol, just in case.


	10. Chapter 10

Cortana POV

John had been back 2 weeks and we hardly had any time together. I was still helping mom at ONI and was pulling extra shifts, while John was personally overseeing some of the clones who were finishing their training, and he was finishing Whips too, so we didn't see each other much. Mom promised me that I could take the next week off if I did this next assignment for her but it was off Kamino and John wasn't coming along.

It was a pretty simple and relatively low risk assignment, with two Jedi going as well. See, yesterday Padme Amidala, a diplomat from Naboo, had managed to capture Nute Gunray on Rodia and he was being transported to Coruscant for imprisonment. The Senate had strict rules on what could and couldn't be done to prisoners so mom wanted to do his interrogation on the way, so we were still technically outside their jurisdiction.

With the Spartan members of ONI being crippled or unable to talk I was the only one she trusted enough to interrogate someone as high profile as a Separatist leader, while she tolerated the Jedi, Zey especially, she didn't trust them to do what was necessary. And so that was why I was walking up a corridor with 2 Jedi, a Separatist Leader and some Senate Commando's. It was like the beginning of a bad joke.

'Senate Commando's. How does a money grabbing swamp worm like Gunray rate all of this security? He doesn't look that dangerous.' She wasn't wrong. Gunray was a coward of the highest order but his power was in his position as Viceroy of the Trade Federation and as a leader of the Separatist. This meant the coward had a lot of control over the fates of others, and he had friend who could be dangerous on his behalf.

'Don't let your over confidence give Gunray another advantage Ahsoka.' Both have points I guess.

'It's not Gunray we need to worry about.' Master Unduli was as calm as anything at my surprise entrance but the little scream Ahsoka let out was very satisfying.

'Who the hell are you? Wait, you're that ONI spook from Christophsis.' I nodded. Ahsoka and I didn't spend much time together back on Christophsis so it wasn't hard to imagine she forgot me.

We had only spent 10 minutes together the shuttle trying to run the blockade before I went off with John while she toured the base. Once the droids attacked Ahsoka and her Master went to take down the deflector shield, Kenobi was leading a counter offensive meant to slow their advance leaving the Chief and I to organise the defence of the cannons.

After Kenobi was captured the droid army came in full force. John had his men and the ODST's of the 501st set up anti tank mines to slow the droids, and hopefully block their path with the broke tanks, to try and make their infantry advance alone. With two teams set up in multiple buildings further down the road on either side, and the rest of the men holding a trench like defensive line made from debris, John had dug us in deep to give the Separatists as much of a problem as possible.

After the full retreat of the troops from Kenobi's position and the deflector shield still being operational things weren't looking good. Droid forces had just started their advance on our position and the Chief had ordered the building forces to focus their fire on the Droidekas, as they sometimes set of the anti tank mines, unlike regular droids, and we needed the mines to slow the tanks.

It worked and the tanks started to block the road while the infantry continued the advance. The shield stopped advancing too. It seems the last tank in the line had the transponder for the shield. See, when setting up a shield you can change the speed of its growth, it cost more power but it can be done. By having the last tank hold the shield transponder then you can time the advance of the shield with the march of the army. Now that the tanks weren't advancing the droid infantry was exposed to fire from our defensive line.

It wasn't long before the shield dropped and the cannons wiped out what was left while Chief lead the troops to destroy every last droid he could find. After cleaning up the Separatist forces John and I left command with a Captain Rex and headed back to Kamino, the Jedi were on their way back anyway and the Admiral, Yularen, one of the few capable commanders, had broken through the blockade so there was no need to stay, which meant this was the first time seeing Ahsoka since stepping off the shuttle.

Now, I was half the galaxy away from John once again. This time, instead of being on Kamino and using the comms to talk to him I was now sent to interrogate a Separatist leader with John being the one stuck on Kamino. We only had personal holograms too so we could only contact each other when we were both free, a disorientating change from being able to talk to him whenever I wanted.

'That's right. I was sent to reestablish contact with Spartan-117, the Master Chief.' The Jedi Master stepped forward to introduce herself.

'I am Master Unduli and this is Padawan Tano. We are grateful for ONI's help in this delicate matter.' How very polite of her. Most don't like ONI agents, calling them spooks, due to their secretive nature and always requisition assets and troops to perform covert tasks, and then returning those troops with orders to keep quiet about what happened. In short, ONI agents weren't the most popular branch of the GAR but we got the job done, not that people knew what job that was exactly but still. The best thing was we weren't the most unpopular branch either, that would be the Riot Squads. They stayed on Coruscant and acted like a police force, with every other clone and even ONI agents out in the field they were seen as cowards, borderline Dar'Manda to some.

'You can call me Phoenix, you look nice.' Mom's choice in code name.

'Thank you/Thanks' The two looked at each other, probably surprised that the other had answered as they thought it was speaking to them.

In truth I was talking to them both. Luminara looked graceful and sophisticated, like she was above you but didn't tell you, just let you come to that conclusion on your own. Ahsoka's outfit seemed like she was saying come take a look at me, and what a look it was. She liked to show off what she had but should probably wait until she had something before she flaunted it, like me. My holo avatar wasn't completely fake you know.

We made it to Gunray's cell with little fuss and took ourselves inside. Luminara took the lead of the investigation, being able to sense what was true or not was a valuable skill it was a shame that only Masters could do it well. She was making steady progress but it seems some didn't quite agree.

I was right in my assessment of Ahsoka back on Christophsis, she was a bold one. You would have to be to threaten a prisoner, and a Separatist leader at that.

'I say we just gut him and be done with it.' Luminara didn't look best pleased.

'Ahsoka control yourself.' I spoke up this time.

'I don't know Master Unduli. I think Ahsoka's onto something here.' Gunray quickly folded without his spine.

'Wait, wait, wait. There is no need for such violence, we can negotiate here.' I took it from here. It seemed Gunray responded better to force.

'A deal? Well how about this one, the more valuable information you give us the less we will have to _coax_ it out of you.' Gunray was just stammering his reply when a trooper just reported that a droid boarding party had just entered the system and we wouldn't make it to hyperspace in time. How in hell did they find us? We were in unknown space and jumping between random hyperspace lanes, how on Mandalore did the find us? A spy. Someone betrayed our location, and I very much doubt it was the Jedi. So that left a clone or a Senate Commando, and I know which my credits were on.

The ship shook as the boarding party pierced the hull. Clone troopers reported that the pods were releasing B-2 Super Battle Droids into the hanger and that the droids were winning. Luminara called for all available clone forces to rendezvous at the hanger, due to the secrecy of the mission it was deemed to much of a risk to assign more than a skeleton crew to the ship encase Separatist listening posts noticed the missing clones and realised the importance of their assignment, this meant even a relatively small droid force could take a ship like the Venator Class Star Destroyer, usually they housed around 7,400 crew with around 5,000 to 20,000 troops, as this one only had 2,100 essential crew members and most couldn't leave their posts. It was decided that a smaller force had a higher chance of going undetected, although that didn't matter now they knew we were here.

'General, the droids. Their overrunning us, they have a new model and it tearing us apaaahhh…' The comms went silent.

'A new droid? What do we do Master?' Luminara unsure, conflicted between the mission and her men. She soon made up her mind.

'Ahsoka stay to guard the prisoner with Phoenix and Captain Argyus. I shall go to reinforce the clones in the hanger with commander Gree.' With that Master Unduli and the Commander both went to help reinforce the hanger while Ahsoka and I were left with the Viceroy.

'It appears you are in no position to negotiate after all.' As soon as things seem to be going his way Gunray's arrogance comes out in full force.

'After my rescue…' Ahsoka decide to dissuade the good Viceroy of any ideas that may prove _hazardous_ to his health.

'Rescue? Maybe they are here to make sure you don't talk.' I chimed in.

'I guess this means you have a decision to make Gunray, rely on the small amount of droid forces to overwhelm a fully stocked war ship filled with tens of thousands of trained clone troopers and rescue you. Or you can talk now, knowing that the droids will be repelled and saving yourself from a very _uncomfortable_ position. Please know, I am perfectly happy with whichever you choose.' His confidence fled once he became aware of the full reality of the situation. I invited Ahsoka in to help me interrogate the Victory and she appear all too eager, something that didn't sit too well with Gunray.

I had only just started my interrogation when a pair of red lightsabers started to cut through the ceiling of the detention centre. The assassin known as Ventress dropped from the roof along with a new type of droid. It was a rusted brown colour and had a more box shaped head then the B-1 droids, wider too. Ventress and the droid made short work of the clones in charge of the detention centre and Captain Argyus made short work of his other Senate Guards, at least we know who the traitor is now.

'Query: Am I allowed to kill all these Meatbags Master? Excitement: Oh please Master. This would be a great pleasure for me.' Well that was new. The whole stance of the droid was different from anything seen before and it's speech patterns suggested a far higher cognitive ability than even the Commando droids.

'Kill them all but spare the Neimoidian.' The droid started to approach so Ahsoka and I readied ourselves, her igniting her saber and me grabbing the silenced SMG I brought with me, taking off the silencer. I preferred the small size and high power of the weapon, the silencer attachment was brought along just in case.

The silencer was unique for the M-series SMG, although ONI was working on re-purposing some to be attached to M-series Snipers. The silencer muffles the ignition of the Tibana gas and has a set of lenses inside that are meant to refract the plasma and darken its colour without compromising its power. Due to the fact that plasma passed directly through the lenses within the silencer it only had limited use before the plasma burnt out the lenses making the silencer useless.

As the new droid approached the cell it raised its rifle and shot Captain Argyus. It seems this new droid either takes it's orders literally or likes to find ways to circumvent its master's will through loopholes left in its commands, considering it said Excitement when asking to kill us _meatbags_ I think I know which one. Luminara burst into the detention centre causing both Ventress and the droid to whip around to face her. Ventress moved to engage but Luminara had used her force powers to open the cell before Ventress could reach her. Ahsoka rushed to help Luminara with Ventress while I rushed the droid, firing at it's back.

It quickly turned back to me but I was already upon it as it was turning, allowing me to knock the rifle from it's hand. It, curiously, had a two handed rifle that had more in common with the clones DC-15A then the droid E-5 single handed blaster.

It reacted quickly, I had acquired a clone Commando Wrist Vibroblade and had planned on using it to sever the droids head and chassis but the droid was too fast. It was lightning fast, Spartan fast. It punched me in the chest, crumpling the modified clone armour. I was sent flying back into the cell and was left strewn across the table as Gunray made his exit, the force didn't kill me thanks to the armour but it did drive the air from my lungs and make concuss when I hit my head.

All ONI agents were given modified clone armour to allow us to blending better and reduce sniper risk, killing intelligence agents is a good way to reduce an armies information gathering abilities after all, but we still need to be identified by friendly units so the ONI diamond was painted on our shoulder. It was decided to use this to identify ONI agents as clones had so many symbols that another symbol would be best at allowing us to blend in while still being identifiable.

I shook my head. It seems that while concuss my mind drifts because while I was thinking about the reason for ONI armour the droid had already picked me up and dragged me out of the cell before throwing me into the wall at the far end of the cell corridor.

'HK-67, get Gunray out of here. We are leaving, now.' It seems two Jedi was too much for Ventress.

'Resignation: *Sigh* Understood Master. Lamentation: It seems I must leave before I can release you of your pathetic existence. Apologise: You must now continue in your suffering known as life.' Like hell I was going to just let them walk away like that. If we couldn't keep Gunray then they weren't having him. Unfortunately, due to my already average aim and my condition thanks to the droid, my aim wasn't very good. I hit Gunray but only in the shoulder before he managed to get away.

They used the elevator tubes to make their way to the lower levels. Just as the Jedi were going to give chase the ship shook as a large explosion went off. It seems that our infiltrators were also saboteurs as they had rigged the engine room with explosives. This also had the added effect of knocking out the power, leaving us on auxiliary power for the gravity and life support.

Commander Gree came to tend to me and had called for some of his men to take me to the infirmary. I was fine, these men didn't need to carry me, I was injured not infirm.

The Jedi had started to cut their way through the elevator to give chase.

Once at the infirmary the medic only had a few patients due to the droids not really leaving many survivors, which meant he had more than enough time for me. He had just removed my chest plate when I spoke up.

'Touch me and you won't live long enough to tell anyone what it's like.' That made the medic nervous but I wasn't going to get felt up by a sexually repressed clone that was seeing a female's chest for the first time.

'But Ma'am, I need to…' Not. Happening.

'I can do it myself, leave me. GO.' He left me after that. I drew the curtains and took of my under shirt. I looked worse than it was, probably. There was a large purple bruise that spread across my chest that made it hard to breath, John was going to lose it when he found out. I had only seen John angry twice before. The first was during the King of the Hill incident where he proceeded to dislocate Freds jaw and the other was on a mission to Felucia.

Mom wanted us to have field experience together in extreme conditions, so sent us to locate and kill a Bull Rancor, she had rather extreme ideas of what _training_ actually entailed. They were one of the most fearsome creatures in the galaxy and were considered to be the only truly untameable species, even Krayt Dragons could be tamed if trained from birth. We managed to track a Bull Rancor down quickly but the fight didn't go well. John jumped into its nest to engage as it was the only open space and he needed that space to manoeuvre around the deceptively quick creature. I took refuge with a tree near the edge and was taking calculated potshots at it with a DMR. John wasn't making much progress with his Assault Rifle as his blaster wasn't piercing it's hide, a very worrying thing as the only blaster with more punch were the Sniper Rifles and we left that on the ship.

John eventually managed to shoot its eye which caused it to rampage and smack John across it's nest. It must have sniffed me out as the next thing I know it grabbed me and tried to eat me.

John doesn't get angry easily but when he does it's like a frozen rage consumes him. The Rancor was so focused on trying to eat me it failed to notice John charging at it with his Spartan Saber, cutting off its leg from the knee down. He then cut off the arm holding me. I rolled back to my feet just in time to see John snap off on of the Bull Rancors tusks, with some help from his Saber but not much, and stab it in the other eye with said tusk.

He took a step back, watching as it roared in pair. I quickly threw a thermal detonator into its mouth and the Rancors head exploded. That seemed to snap John back to reality as he then wasted no time in fussing over me. I had a bit of a rough landing but John had always been overprotective of me. It could be grating at times but I knew it was just because John didn't know what he would do if I ever left him and he didn't cope well with being overwhelmed by his emotions.

Once he starts to calm down again he remembers that I can take care of myself but those initial moments when I get hurt he doesn't handle well, fussing and worrying but not in an overt way where he does everything for me, like fluffing my pillows or fetching me a drink. No John was more of the type who would refuse to leave my side until I was better, my eternal warden, and would carry me where I needed to go rather than let me walk. John's fussing could be fun at time, I mean what girl doesn't like being swept of her feet by her knight in green armour, but when he goes overboard and doesn't put me down I need to be more firm. This snaps him back quickly and he puts me down but you need to force him back, not an easy thing to do, forcing a Spartan.

That's why, while I wrapped Bacta infused bandages around my torso I knew John would freak. I would have sent word back of my injury but that would just make it worse as he would be unable to confirm my status himself. Not that anyone back on Kamino would know he was worried even if I did send back word. Even when worried, angry or even when he was happy John had a mean Sabbac face like no other.

You know, now I think about it I could have John play Sabbac with the Cuy'val Dar. I would have to direct him of course, as he doesn't know how to play, but I could give him an earpiece to direct him on what to do.

I made my way to the bridge to see the Jedi informing Master Yoda and Knight Skywalker on what had happened. Mom was also there but she wasn't saying anything until I arrived.

'Phoenix, where were you?' Nothing gets past her.

'I had to finish up on something.' She gave me a quick look up and down.

'I will inform him before your arrival. Do you have anything else to report?' It was probably for the best. Mom was the only person John trusted enough to calm him down whenever I got injured and he couldn't check on me himself.

I gave my report on the droid, how it wasn't anything like we've seen before and that it had abilities on par with Spartans in at least strength and speed, most likely more. It was a disturbing thought for everyone as it meant they were able to kill Jedi with their level of ability. The fact that it had also knock Ahsoka into a wall while trying to leave alongside Ventress only reaffirmed this.

I also told them of my attempt to take out the Viceroy before he fell back into enemy hands. Luminara looked like I had committed the gravest sin imaginable, Yoda just bowed his head and closed his eyes, knowing the necessity of such actions but not liking them all the same. Skywalker looked pleased, smug actually. Mom and Ahsoka looked to be the most blase about it, mom knowing I was doing what I was trained to do while Ahsoka just didn't seem to see what the big deal was. She, most likely, didn't see Gunray's death to be a big waste to anyone, in fact she more than likely saw it as a benefit for everyone.

We then discussed the locator beacon within the stolen ship and it was decided that Kit Fisto would chase it down as he was closest. The Jedi also dispatched Nahdar Vebb and mom sent Spartan Fireteam Red to help deal with Ventress and the Droid.

* * *

Cortana POV

The shuttle doors had only just opened fully when a great big shadow engulfed me and the great green lug picked me up and started to carry me bridal style.

'Put me down John, I'm not an invalid.' He didn't say anything, just carried on walking down the corridor. His hurried pace caused more than a few people to jump out of his way.

'I can walk John.' Still nothing. I sighed, he wasn't going to let me down it seems. I could have put my foot down on the issue but it should bring him some comfort to have physical proof that I am okay, and if he found that by carrying me there was no point arguing as he would fight tooth and nail until finally giving in to me, I always win arguments with him no matter how petty I have to get.

'Where are we going?' He still hadn't slowed down and we had just passed the turnoff to the barracks, where our room was located.

'Infirmary.' Oh hell no. I was fine, and this thick headed neanderthal had better get that through his Beskar covered head. And speaking of Beskar, why was he _still_ wearing his helmet. I know the Spartans didn't like to be out of their armour, like most Mandalorians, and while Spartans took it to an extreme by wearing it even on Kamino they at least took their helmets off.

'We are not going to the Infirmary as I. Am. Fine! If you are taking me anywhere it's our room, and if you don't I will make my **own** way there.' He passed the next turn that would swing us around to the barracks.

'John…' He heard the warning in my tone as he finally started to make his way to our room.

Once John opened the door Whip was jumping all over John to try to lick my face.

'Whip.' He understood John's tone as Whip stopped jumping on us and made his way to his little bed next to Johns. John laid me on my bed as gently as possible, like I was a princess or something. I was a Mandalorian for kriffs sake and he had better start treating me like one.

'Do you need anything?' What was with him today? Perhaps he didn't like our time apart as much as me, the fact that he couldn't get a hold of me probably didn't help matters but I had never seen him this nervous before. Like I said, a firm hand usually snaps him back.

'You can sit the kriff down and grow a pair.' He seemed to realise I've had enough, about damn time.

'Sorry,' Great. Now I felt like the jerk in all of this. He didn't take being overwhelmed by his emotions well, no Spartan did, but John was the worst as he usually had so much control over them so when they did overwhelm him he didn't have enough experience to know what to do.

'It's okay John. If it's something serious then it's fine but for something minor like this then let me just deal with it, I didn't need your help.' I was very independent and didn't need him hovering over me every step of the way.

'It's my job to take care of you.' Oh John. You big idiot.

'We are supposed to take care of each other. And we do.' John just held my hand as he sat beside me. These bunks were heavy duty, Halsey had all Spartan rooms refurbished with reinforced beds and a door that lead to a room where a machine will help the Spartans put their armour on and take it off.

'Now, I need some sleep.' John nodded and stood up.

'I'll leave you too it.' He still had a lot to learn, that wasn't an order to leave but an offer to join.

'John, I spent two weeks barely seeing you, and only took this mission so we could have a week off together, so you had better take that damn suit off and join me.' He stared at me a second and went to the other room to take it off. We hadn't shared a bed together before but I wasn't going to pass up a chance like this. Besides, mom seemed to realise how I felt about him, now I just had to get him to figure it out too.

I stripped off my armour and under suit before putting on a grey tank top with ONI written across it. I slipped on some shorts and got into bed. John stepped back in with a shirt, one that had SPARTAN written on it, and was wearing longer shorts than mine. For beds that were assigned to one person they fit two people comfortably.

John got in behind me and wrapped me up. I turned into his chest and rest my head on his arm. He shouldn't have a problem but if it was dead in the morning, well, he was a Spartan and would just have to deal with it.

'Goodnight John.' I dozed off quickly but not before hearing him whisper goodnight back.

* * *

John POV

I left Cortana to sleep in. She may have been trained by Dr. Halsey personally but she never had as strict a schedule as we did. Spartans had to be up at a certain time and that was that. I was on the balcony that overlooked the Yard when Sam found me.

'I'm surprised Freds not here with how much he wants you up his…' I didn't let him finish.

'Sam!'

'What? You know it's true. Give me another good reason why someone as anal retentive and as good as Fred would want to play second fiddle to you.' Sam was one of my first friends, from before I even met Cortana. He, Kelly and I were inseparable even with the inclusion of Cortana but I also spent time with Cortana first, before she dragged me back to all of the others, whenever we had Yard. Sam found it hilarious and didn't stop her, it also helped enjoyed the time alone with Kelly too.

'How is she?' He must have heard that Cortana was hurt from somewhere.

'Sleeping. It's nothing too serious.' Sam took his place on my left. Fred was my second, no doubt, but Sam was my best friend. As for Cortana, she was something better than a friend but I had not yet found the right word to call it.

'That's not the way I hear it. From what I'm told you started speeding down the corridors heading for the infirmary before suddenly going to your room. Were you _kissing_ it better or using more… sexual… healing methods?' The look I gave him did nothing to wipe that maddening grin off his face.

'No.' He seemed to take the warning in my tone as a challenge.

'But you have kissed her right? I mean, wounded damsel, knight in armour, big scary monster, there is always a kiss in there somewhere. Unless… She didn't kiss the droid did she? I hear that in some stories the hulking knight is the real monster.' The punch I gave him left him rubbing his arm but it only seemed to encourage him.

'Have you had sex with her yet? I mean two teens lock in a room together with no oversight. I've seen the way you two look at each other.' I didn't grace him with a response, as that seemed to be what he was after. He gave up at that.

Sam had always been more social than most Spartans and enjoyed to joke around, this coupled with Kelly's odd humour and comedic timing, in the middle of fighting was her main preference, made them fast friends.

'Jerome and Isabel just shipped out.' To find the droid that hurt Cortana. I wanted to go but Halsey said I was still on leave, it was the first time I really hated mandatory leave. I had spoken to the pair before they went to make sure they understood the dangers. Jerome had a good head on his shoulders and he wouldn't let anything happen to little Isabel. She was by far the most innocent of the Spartans, she could kill but she started to feel guilty when her mission were over and allowed herself to think about them afterwards. Fighting droids should help her, along with being with Jerome, who doted on her the most out of all of us. She was a little anxious and shy when out of combat but she would do her job without any problems, so I wasn't worried about her per say, more that I didn't want to put her in a situation where she would have to kill anyone as I didn't want to get her upset.

'I know.'

'Think she can handle it?' Sam didn't doubt her he just worried that she would go far enough to complete the mission. He was one of the more ruthless Spartans, which went well with Kelly's cynical humour as her favourite time to make a joke was during missions when everything that could go wrong did. They made a good, if slightly scary, pair.

'She won't let him down.' Sam seemed to accept the answer.

'You know, those two remind me a lot of you and Cortana. The only difference being those two have at least kissed each other.' I understood the unspoken question.

'We have.' That brought him up short.

'When?'

'About a year ago.' His look was incredulous.

'A whole year?! That girl is so into you and you've done it once, a year ago?' I nodded.

'She hasn't done it since.' Sam palmed his face. He let out a resigned sigh, why? Cortana never did it again but that was her choice, I was a little disappointed but if she just didn't want to do so that was her choice.

'That's because she is waiting on you. She kissed you making her interests known now you have to kiss her back to let her know you feel the same.' I was confused.

'But she already knows?!' Sam shook his head.

'That's not how this works John. You need to prove it to her physically. Now go back to your room and wake up Sleeping Beauty with a kiss.' He left after that, having said his piece. I stood looking over the Yard. It seems I had a decision to make.


	11. Chapter 11

Jerome POV

Each Spartan Fireteam was given a specialised craft for us to use for battlefield deployment called a Pelican. These Pelican Crafts had 4 adjustable thrusters that are used for both lift off and manoeuvring. This made the crafts as manoeuvrable a fighter while being the size of a small transport ship. It was designed to accommodate for anything a Spartan team may need for longer deployments, this included a small hold for storing items, rations, supplies and the gun rack; a small bedroom, this cut the hold from the bridge meaning you need to go through the bedroom to get to the bridge, it had two beds on either side with a Spartan Armour Removal Machine, nicknamed the Spartan ARM, in the centre of the room; and the bridge itself, which looked more like a slightly scaled up gunship cockpit.

It had a front mounted Rotary style blaster cannon installed in the bottom half of the cockpit with 2 sets of 2 Laser Turrets attached to either side of the cockpit, they could rotate to fire at any enemies located behind the craft. This was helped by the Pelicans slim profile, when compared to other ships of its class.

I had manoeuvred the Pelican on the top of the ridge. We were to rendezvous with Kit Fisto on the other side of the cliff but I felt it best not to leave the craft within view so was landing next to a small outcrop of trees and planned to cover the Pelican with some foliage before meeting up with the others.

'How are we?' Isabel was a little nervous. She didn't like the thought of Cortana being injured and the fact that we were sent chasing down the same droid put her a little on edge. The real problem, though, came from our orders, we were meant to execute Gunray at the slightest hint of us being unable to recapture him. Isabel didn't like causing pain to others but Gods forbid if you ever hurt one of her friends, 'cause then all bets were off.

'We're fine Is, once we touchdown I'll cover the Pelican and we can go meet up with the others.' We both put our helmets on upon touchdown and grabbed our loadouts. I grabbed the Assault Rifle and an SMG, I preferred the high fire rate and closer range, while Is took a DMR and Magnum, preferring the range more than anything else but still packing a decent punch.

Once we arrived Master Fisto had only just landed. He seemed to be having a reunion with the Mon Calamari, Nahdar Vebb.

'It is good to see you again my old Padawan. I am sorry I could not be there for your Knighting.' Vebb looked grateful for the consideration but told his Master that he knew that he had other commitments.

'And these must be our Spartan support. I must say, you are taller than expected. I hope you live up to all the rumours.' I inclined my head to him but Isabel always was the more social of us.

'Well, one can only hope.' Fisto gave a reassuring smile but Vebb just screwed up his face, he didn't seem to appreciate our presence. I would have to keep an eye on him.

A trooper came to inform us the signal was coming from the end of the canyon and that it would take a bit of a walk to get there. I started to make my way there with Is following close behind but Vebb wanted to show off to his Master so used his powers to blow away the fog.

'Now we can see the way.' This is why I don't like working with Jedi.

'We already knew the way we needed to go but now we don't have any cover.' Vebb looked like he was going to start arguing, trying to justify his decision, not that he really could with such a stupid decision as getting rid of our cover. You want cover like fog when making a covert assault on a building, it's when you're defending the building that you want to be rid of it. Isabel laid her hand on my arm.

'Jerome…' Yeah, I get it, play nice. She was too soft on them sometimes.

'Let's go.' We reached a heavy duty door that seemed sealed tight. No visible way in and no side entrances.

'The entrance looks sealed.' Not just an idiot but it turns out he was a Captain too, of the obvious that is. At least the troopers had more sense.

'We specialise at making entrances.' They at least come up with a reasonable solution to the problem at hand with all available intel. The thing is sometimes there are alternate routes.

'Save your ordnance Commander. Isabel, open the door.' Isabel specialised in Logistics but was a good splicer and a better pilot. She was one of the few selected to test out the experimental ARC-170 before it was introduced into mass production.

'A second look usually pays off.' Master Fisto moved up to the door as well and started to have a look. A few minutes later the pair opened the door after finding a button and we moved on inside.

Inside was tight and narrow, long hallways with lots of doors, in short a kill zone. We couldn't check every door and if any droids shot from around corners we were screwed as we didn't have the access codes for the doors so that meant no cover.

As we moved further in several troopers commented on the smell and sounds of the facility, we weren't alone and it wasn't just because the Viceroy was here. We were coming up to an open door with light streaming out of it so I called for a full stop.

'Why are we stopping? Gunray is just there, we should go now!' Overeager and stupid made for a dangerous couple and they seemed to have made a home in Vebb.

'Patience Nahdar. What is it Spartan?' Fisto had a good head on his shoulders and he was starting to suspect the same as me, we were walking into an ambush.

'The doors are open. We don't have the codes so we would have to break our way in and blindly search every room, but we're not because we are following the transponder.' Vebb was getting annoyed with waiting and jumped in, trying to hurry us along.

'Now that you've told us what we already know let us go get Gunray.' He made to move so I grabbed his arm.

'The transponder is supposed to be on the ship they stole. We are to far underground for that to be a hanger. There have been no guards, no droids shooting us down corridors and the Viceroy is just inviting us in. This is a trap and they know we're here, most likely thanks to you.' He threw my arm of and started to try to defend his actions but Fisto interrupted.

'Now is not the time. This is indeed a trap but a trap for whom?' No one responded.

'Either way Gunray is our mission and he is in there, we need to go.' Trust Isabel to stay on task.

We entered the room cautiously. I had suggested that Fisto and I go in first while Vebb and Isabel take up the rear guard. This was because while we could hear Gunray there was no sign of Ventress or the droid. With Vebb and Isabel at the back we had people capable of fending them off if they decided to attack from behind.

The droids forces around the Viceroy were just about to alert Gunray to our presence in the room when I burst into action. I fired 5 shots, each hitting a droid's head, before reaching the Viceroys chair and spinning it around. A hologram of the Viceroy was sitting there.

'Ha ha ha, I welcome you to your doom. Aha ha ha.' I was unimpressed. I turned my head to Vebb who stepped up to the chair, abandoning the rear guard and leaving us exposed.

'I told you they knew we were here.' Vebb came to stand next to me in front of the Viceroys hologram.

'This proves nothing. He could have been gone before we arrived.' His delusions were getting worse.

'I said I welcome you to your…'

'The fact that this isn't a prerecorded message and the fact that he only started talking just before we entered the room means he knew we were coming.' It was obvious.

'He could have been lucky.' Even when he had no defence he refused to admit he was wrong, I hate working with Jedi.

'That's funny coming from a Force user.' The Viceroy jumped in.

'STOP IGNORING ME.' Just then his hologram was replaced by one of Count Dooku.

'I must commend you for your detective skills Jerome-092. You really are a credit to your brothers and sister. I welcome you, and sweet young Isabel too.' The rest of the group filtered into the room. Vebb ignited his saber, most likely trying to intimidate Dooku. One, he was a Master Jedi before he left the order who specialised in Makashi. Two, he was a hologram.

'Dooku, show yourself coward.' The look he gave Vebb was of utter contempt.

'I must also commend your patience.' The insult did not go unnoticed but Master Fisto join the conversation before Vebb could further embarrass himself, he had done enough for one day.

Dooku explained that while we couldn't have Gunray we could have another, more valuable target. I commented that he should have just given us Gunray then, as he was practically useless. He responded by saying he thought I would appreciate the challenge. So we were bait then, my answer only received a smirk in return before Dooku left.

Fisto suggested we go further into the facility and look around. It seems Dooku gave us access to the facility as the doors now opened for us. The first thing we came across was the statue of a Kaleesh Warrior. Fisto called it a strange shrine to the warrior.

'He's Kaleesh. They have warrior culture and are known Jedi Killers but due to their small numbers and the fact that they are a single race of beings, rather than a menagerie of them like the Mandalorians, they go relatively unknown in the galaxy at large. Their most accomplished warriors become Gods in the eyes of their people.' Isabel loved to talk but only in meaningful conversation. She didn't rattle off trivia, ask pointless question to receive pointless answers or just run her mouth. No, Isabel liked to have a meaningful conversation, she wants to get to really know a person.

It was what made talking to her so easy. She was my first friend back on Kamino, in general really. The only thing I remember from before Kamino was that I used to take things, steal them, and that sometimes it got violent. I liked to hit things when I was younger but it had translated to me being one of the more aggressive and ruthless Spartans. Isabel was the first person I didn't drive away. She talked with me, got to know me and introduced me to her friends, Alice and Douglas.

Once my violent impulses tempered to more subtle personality traits, aggression and ruthlessness, my training scores went up, catching Cortana and John's attention. We became good friends but I was still more involved with Isabel, Alice and Douglas.

After realising that everyone was looking at her for her insight Isabel ducked her head, she probably had that cute little blush dusting her cheeks again. She didn't get embarrassed often but I did like it when she did.

We continued to explore the facility and found a room filled with Kaleesh Masks, General Grievous masks.

'This is the lair of General Grievous.' At Fisto's exclamation I sprung into action. Ordering Commander Fil to contact Niner and Bel on the ship and to bring as much of the explosives as they could and bring it to the facility. I wanted to blow this facility and deny Grievous one of his most important bases, his repair base. This would reduce Grievous' ability to repair himself after each fight, allowing us to kill him by whittling away at him. Just before contacting the two they contacted us to tell us that Grievous was coming. All the more reason to destroy the facility, only this time with Grievous in it.

We continued to explore the facility while we waited for the pair to join us. We came across a room filled with Jedi lightsabers and Padawan braids.

'Who could do this?'

'A God. These aren't trophies, they are tributes to Grievous' status as a God amongst his people.' Vebb looked at me shocked. He had little experience with Gods of War but Spartans grew up learning about them. The greatest tribute a God could receive is one that corresponds to their domain. For a God of War, as Grievous was seen by his people, they was no greater tribute to those who fell in your name, those who were conquered in your name.

'Sir, Niner and Bel are nearly here.' I nodded at the Commander and took the two troopers to rig the storeroom of Grievous' parts. I asked Isabel go with the Commander and the other troopers along with the Jedi to find the control room. She nodded and went to explore the rest of the facility.

I quickly found the clones and we made our way to the room of Grievous parts.

'How much explosives do you have?' Niner took the lead.

'Not enough for a facility of this size, if that's what you're asking.' I nodded.

'We'll focus here and the control room once it's found.' Just then my comms buzzed and the sounds of fighting flooded through.

'Isabel?' A tinge of panic entered my voice. She quickly told me that they had encountered Grievous and that Fisto decided to try to capture Grievous but they were being tossed around by him, even after he lost his legs. I turned to Niner and Bel who told me that they had it here and to go help the others. I nodded and left them to their work.

I had just reached the others when Fisto called for his droid to contact the Republic and inform them of this facility. As I slowed my approach the floor opened up under the group. I rushed to the them and dived for the edge, grabbing Isabel before she fell further. Commander Fil used his grapple to stop himself but Fisto and Vebb had to pull him up.

I pulled Is up and we both took a running leap to cross the chasm. After a brief exchange of taunts between Fisto and Grievous we made our way into a circular room with multiple exits, the doors all shut leaving us trapped inside.

There was a thumping sound and the smell noted earlier was getting stronger. One set of doors opened slowly to reveal a Roggwart, outfitted with battle armour, that roared before charging at us. We all dove apart.

Isabel, Fil and I all took aim at the beast's head and neck, scoring many, but relatively minor, hits. It charged at the us while the Jedi made to engage but Fisto was knocked aside and disarmed. He recovered quickly but Vebb had jumped on the creatures back, stabbing it. The Roggwart's back panel used its mechanical arms to throw him off and then used its tail to grab the Commander. I started firing at its face again and hit it's eye, making the beast drop the Commander. Isabel rushed to his side, firing her Magnum, she then pulled him to the side of the room before switching to her DMR.

Vebb moved to cut off the Roggwart's tail, and Fisto its hands, using one of the many Cho Mai strikes. It fell at Fisto feet before he finished it off.

I went to check on Isabel and Fil. He was okay but unconscious. Isabel hoisted him over her shoulder and we moved to find the control room.

When we found it we waited for Grievous to get someway down the corridor before we made for the door. Once open, a droid on the other side alerted Grievous to our presence and closed the door, separating Vebb and I from Fisto, Isabel and Fil.

I raised my Assault Rifle and fired on his MagnaGuards while Vebb went after Grievous himself, despite his Masters warnings. The droids were swinging their staffs with great precision but their central processor, located in the red circle in their stomachs, was especially vulnerable. It was placed there as most would aim for the head making the MagnaGuard able to operate without one.

After the brief engagement I turned to the sound of a blaster and watched Vebbs body slump to the floor. This meant little to me except I now had to face Grievous alone. He rushed at me as I sprayed blaster bolts at him before ducking his first swing. I slammed the but of my rifle into his mask. He stumbled and I let loose once more before Grievous cut the rifle in half so I dropped the broken halves and punched Grievous in the chest stumbling him again. Jumped back to create some room and got into my hand to hand combat stance, side facing with fists raised.

I could have brought out my Spartan Saber but Grievous had already shown that, while the corridors were great for ambushes, that lightsabers were more likely to get caught, limiting their use.

This is because the lightsaber is a slashing weapon, it uses quick slashes and precision strikes to get behind enemies defences or to return blaster bolts. The Spartan Saber is more suited to thrusts and sweeps The thrusts are only meant to either catch a blade and disarm an opponent or to be blocked by the opponent, this is then meant to be followed by a wide sweeping strike that will crash through the new, hasty, defence made with the blade to either dissect the enemy or to impale them with a final thrust. This combination of sweeps and thrusts were even more unsuited to the tight halls.

My next option could be to use the Cortosis Weave knives issued to use by Dr. Halsey but I never really took to them so wouldn't be much good for me here, even if the Cortosis would short out Grievous' lightsabers.

So that left hand to hand combat. It was perfect for such a tight space and, while Grievous' longer limbs helped in lightsaber combat, I could get within his guard and fend of any attack. It was also my best type of melee combat.

Grievous swung but I delivered another body strike, he tried to then use his other arm but a quick forearm block stopped it. He went for a front kick but I dodged and delivered an elbow strike to his knee, snapping it. He roared in pain and cut off the useless, hanging limb. He detached his arms and used a pair to manoeuvre his way around the ceiling while holding two blades in the other hands. I dodged his quick flurry of strikes but one grazed the breast plate leaving a trail of carbon scoring on the Beskar. I tried to get inside his guard again but he learned quickly and was using one blade to block, forcing me to pull my punches, and another to strike, I would have used kicks but with him hanging it wouldn't do much good. I finally broke through his guard and scored another hit to the breast plate causing it to cave in slightly, with another roar of pain from him I quickly slammed the other side of the plate. He seemed to have planned on me capitalising on this because he had prepared a counter attack, he was learning my style too quickly. With his durability it was only a matter of time before he found a way to beat me.

His foot had shot up and grabbed me. He used it to slam me into the wall and then threw me into the other. Now, while Mandalorian Iron was lightsaber resistant the under suit was not, leaving vulnerable gaps at the joints and other places were armour was lacking to increase mobility. Grievous knew this which is why he used my disorientation to strike at my wrist, my exposed wrist. His blade came crashing down so fast that I couldn't stop it. The blade made contact with my arm, that I had hastily thrown up in defence, but Grievous' carried on through, finding no resistance after his blade touched my arm.

'Jerome. We have the control room but we need to get out, now. We have the door open, hurry.'

I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and ran into the door that Isabel had opened for me. Grievous roared in fury behind me, not just because I got away, but because his lightsaber had just shorted out. You see, Halsey knew each Spartan better than we knew ourselves, and she knew we each had our own preferences to combat. This meant she tried to accommodate us all leading to the inclusion of Beskar gauntlets with Cortosis Weave. When Grievous made to strike my wrist I adjusted my arm so that the blade would hit the gauntlet which shorted his blade.

Isabel had set up some minor charges and we were going to blow the room once we got out. I called Niner and Bel and had them meet us at the outer platform that we were heading to. Once there we handed off the Commander to Bel, who had medical training, but Grievous quickly caught up to us. I ordered Bel to take the Commander to the Pelican and had Niner cover him. They pair broke off and hurried to complete their assignment.

Fisto was distracting Grievous and I ignited my blade to help him. We were holding him off but Grievous was a skilled opponent, even with only being able to move on one leg, and my skills with a blade were around average when compared with my brothers and sisters. Isabel was much better but she used Soresu/Ataru mix. It wasn't the most offensive style, more for holding off an opponent and then using flips and acrobatics to get around them and strike. It was actually close to the style Grievous was using now, but he did have training in all VII forms.

Fisto managed to disarm Grievous during our brief fight and reclaimed Vebb's blade. Just then a shot rang out and I turned to Isabel who had collapsed to the floor.

'ISABEL.' I ran to her and only just covered her downed body before another shot rang out and hit me in the back. It was powerful but my shields held. Isabel stirred below me but she was still out of it. I looked up to see Fisto surrounded by Manga Guards but his droid was piloting his ship towards him. I hoisted Isabel onto my shoulders and made for the cliff were the Pelican was parked. I took a brief look and saw one of the rust coloured droids Cortana reported with a sniper rifle, and he was aiming at me. I dodged the first shot but the second grazed my shoulder, which finished my shields. The third hit the rock that I had just passed and now I was out of sight.

I was running back to the ship and commed Niner to warm the engines. I also contacted Bel to see how the Commander was doing, he was fine just took a bad knock, I also told him to prep the other bed. Isabel was fine but I wanted to be safe.

After dropping Isabel off in the bedroom and left her in Bels care I joined Niner in the cockpit and we took off.

'Niner, set off the bombs.'

'Right away sir.' Even if we hadn't gotten Gunray or Grievous we at least crippled the Kaleesh, well more than he already was.

* * *

Jerome POV

We returned to Kamino to deliver our report to Halsey in person, we could only use the screens in the cockpit for calls as we didn't have a holotable, and Halsey didn't want to do it there. Fisto was to make his report to the Jedi High Council about what happened and that left the 3 clones in my care.

They did well on this mission and none of them were from any of the Spec Ops divisions. They also liked large and flashy explosions, men after my own heart. I suppose Isabel and I could do worse than have men like these under our direct command. I mean, with Vebb dead they weren't under his command any more so there was no one to return them too.

Isabel, who had regained consciousness, and Fil, also conscious, were transferred to medical for a more in depth check up. Halsey had met us on the platform and dismissed Niner and Bel. Before they left I told them to meet in the Auditorium at 0600 tomorrow to discuss their reassignment. I left with Halsey after that.

She seemed most interested in the fact that the droid used sniper tactics instead of the close combat, as seen before, either it was a different model or they used a whole range of different techniques and tactics, I didn't know what was worse.

After I finished my report I asked Halsey to reassign Fil, Niner and Bel to my command. She looked at me for a second and reminded me that she didn't have the command of regulars so couldn't do this. I said I know but without a commanding officer, Vebb, they would be automatically reassigned back to their division but not if they were Killed In Action. She took a long hard second to look at me.

'You want me to label these 3 KIA? You want me to lie on an official report?' I nodded. She informed me of a new squad that she was transferring to my command called Trivium. She raised an eyebrow at me for that, just to see if I understood. I did.

The official report said the 3 were ambushed on the way to the Pelican but we told Niner and Bel, Fil once he recovered, that high command had them reassigned to become a part of what high command was calling the Spartan 3 project and would undergo chemical augmentation and remedial training for the next 4 months. When they asked why 3 and not 2 Halsey said that the Spartan 2's were the second generation of Spartans, whatever that meant. It sounded like she meant any child born from Spartan parents but she couldn't mean that… Could she?!


	12. Chapter 12

Halsey POV

Arligan Zey stormed his way into the Command Centre, I had hoped the team would have left before he found out that they were gone but the way he was stomping towards me said otherwise.

'What is the meaning of this Halsey?' He threw a datapad on my desk. It was the pad given to Null Squad by one of the ONI Spartans, one of the few who knew of Null Squads existence. When Null were to be reintroduced into the main body of the army Skirata asked to transfer the ODST but I had another idea. These clones may never be at the same level of the Spartans but they were far and away better than regular clones, even those in Spec Ops, so we created a covert section of the Spartans just for them. We called them Spartan 3's, not just because the second generation was reserved for any children produced by any Spartan, even the 3's, but because they were now considered to be the brainchild of ONI section 3.

At first Null Squad were the only Spartan 3's and were to be the more covert side, my Spartans were front line fighters after all though still capable of covert missions if needed, but after the formation of ONI the Chancellor, after reading Null's mission records, asked for more. A lot more. We didn't look for the Spartan gene this time as it was specifically repressed in all clones but Null, where it was enhanced. After the initial problems with Null and how hard it was to control the boys it was decided to suppress the Spartan gene, fools.

We only recruited from clones who had distinguished themselves on the battlefield and who wouldn't be missed, clones who were thought dead, MIA or whose squads were demolished. They went through augmentation and 4 months remedial training. Like the Spartans the 3's were under ONI's direct oversight but remained unknown to the galaxy, Jedi and the other clones. This was done by giving them a mix of regular, ARC, Commando and ODST armour. Not the immortals though as they were still only a single division strong and were placed under Mace Windu. I did not want any Spartans, even the 3's, under his care. The Immortals were a good fit for his rush tactics though. Zey did know of the 3's but he didn't know of Null Squad, they were the best kept secret on Kamino, and Kamino raised a whole army of millions with no one the wiser so this being the best kept is saying something.

I had sent Null to Concordia as rumours were coming out of there, rumours about a new Mandalore. The Jedi weren't going to react to this well so I had hoped to send Null to remedy the situation before it reaches their attention, silence them, permanently if needed. And now, Zey knows.

'I gave a squad of Spartan 3's a mission. What of it?' I didn't look up from my research. Skirata had the full loyalty of Null Squad, a very rare thing, and had used it to bribe me. He offered their services a part of my Spartan 3's if I would research a way to reverse their accelerated ageing. I agreed, this would increase their effectiveness two fold by allowing them to work and live twice as long.

The only other to gain the Squads full respect and loyalty was John. They liked the other Spartans, to be sure, but there was a distance between the Spartans and the 3's. This was never more obvious than with Ordo, Null Squad leader. He idolised the Spartans, saw them as the culmination of everything he worked so hard to achieve, he wanted to join their ranks, or at least be as good as them. They already followed John as if he were the Mandalore and accepted orders from none except Kal and John, Kal had to give them a basic blanked order to follow me but they still went to him to check my orders.

This is why I was sending them to Concordia. The rumors were that a group of Mandalorians were recruiting members to a group under the banner of a new Mandalore, one who will restore our people's warrior ways. That _cannot_ happen. Everything I have been working towards will not be undone just because John couldn't declare as Mandalore first.

'Why was I not informed of this? And who were those clones? I know every member of the Spartan 3 program, even these 3 new members Red team brought back.' Zey was good at his job but he was still a Jedi at heart. His compassion towards the clones was appreciated but he didn't agree with their more Mandalorian tendencies. Jusik and Tur-Mukan were far more receptive of our culture, so much so I had been secretly trying to influence them to becoming Mandalorian.

'Obviously not.' Zey didn't like my tone or being left out of the loop but I wasn't going to let him know their real mission.

'What is their mission?' He must have tried to open the datapad, I would if I was him, but I had it encrypted and only Null Squad had the decryption code.

'Nothing.' He knew I wouldn't budge on the issue so he tried a different approach.

'I want Jusik to go with them or I will report you to the Chancellor.' Blackmail.

'I have full authorisation over the Spartans, even the 3's. I can send them where I want.' I still hadn't looked up from my microscope. The results of this would be astronomical. It would only help once, obviously, but even once this serum would half the ageing of a single person. It could, and would, be used to give the clones a normal life span but it could also be used to double the lifespan of a normal human, it would need to be altered to affect other races. Now, a serum of this power would need to be strictly controlled and the best way to do that would be to keep it secret. This gave me the ability to hand pick the recipients of the serum, like the Spartans for instance. It would be a few years yet but I was making progress all the same, Kaminos didn't give their secrets to anyone meaning I was starting from scratch.

'You don't have authorisation over the equipment, their weapons, armour and shuttle are all property of the Galactic Republic. I can have you brought up on charges of misallocation of resources.' I finally looked up at Zey. I thought about it for a second, this would be a good way to introduce Jusik into the current climate within Mandalorian space, and hopefully convince him of the necessity of another true Mandalore to rise. A Spartan Mandalore. Not that Zey could know.

Bardan Jusik was his own Padawan, and while he took over the training of Etain Tur-Mukan after her Master was killed right after the start of the war he always favoured his own. Jusik was more compassionate and confrontational than other Jedi. He saw the genetic indoctrination of the clone army as a form of slavery and wasn't afraid to let people know this, even the Jedi Council. This but some distance between him and the rest but the Commando troopers he has worked with in the past have all been well receptive of him, teaching him our ways.

Tur-Mukan was on a mission during the battle of Geonosis so didn't know the war had started. Her Master was killed by a Mandalorian who joined the Separatists. When Omega Squad was sent to finish a mission on the planet and encountered her she attacked them, thinking they were with the Mando. Eventually they stopped her before she could kill anyone and they worked together to kill the Mando and finish the mission. This had brought about a very interesting problem, Tur-Mukan had a crush on Darman of Omega Squad and Darman had a crush on her. I had been trying to subtly encourage it, a force sensitive Mandalorian has been proven to be a powerful thing in the past and the chance for a whole bloodline of them is always welcome, I did this so that there would be another Mandalorian, sure, but mainly so as to eliminate the Jedi oversight the Chancellor was insistent on. If they are more supportive of the Mandalorians than the Jedi I will have more freedom to change things up a bit, do things differently. So far I have only really had small windows in which to operate without direct Jedi oversight and have taken full advantage of them. With Jusik and Tur-Mukan coming around to our ways I can operate more freely.

I made a show of accepting Zeys demands, he was using his Padawan as a way of finding out what mission the team was on and who they were but I am confident Jusik would reveal nothing, he already has strong sympathies to the clones and to the Mandalorians. I will need Null Squad to understand the necessity of making Jusik feel welcomed and how important it was he connect with them and the Mandalorian culture. If not, the Jedi might find out about our plans and that could complicate the situation. Null Squad may not like Jedi but I am sure they will understand the importance of getting along with one Jedi to prevent the meddling of the rest. I contacted Ordo once Zey left.

* * *

Ordo POV

We had just landed on Concordia and were about to head out when the _Jedi_ came to ask what we were here for. Jusik was alright for a Jedi but that wasn't saying much. Halsey gave us orders to get along otherwise the Jedi were likely to interfere with Mandalorian matters, something no Null member wanted.

Our intel says that a meeting was taking place soon but we didn't have an exact time or place. We were heading to a popular bounty hunter hangout. We had some custom Mandalorian armour, a lightweight Hunter variant that Clan Hardeen was famous for using, and were using our Clan name of Skirata to try and fish for information. Only Jusik and I were to take of our buckets or talk so that we didn't reveal ourselves as clones.

Bounty Hunter bars were a good place for information as Bounty Hunters were always looking for those who had hidden themselves across the galaxy so needed good intel which attracted all sorts of people who were willing to sell information.

We came upon a bar called the Dancing Nexu, and what an image that was. It was filled with dancers and pirates who were making a mess of the entire establishment. There was bottles flying at people's heads, hands making grabbing motions to the girls on the poles and fights breaking out all across the bar. It was perfect. This type of establishment was the exact type of place we were looking for, even if I did find all of the people here to be repulsive just from their behaviour alone, no true Mandalorian would engage in such dishonorable behaviour. Jusik and I split up and took some of the Nulls with us, 3 went with Jusik while the other 2 came with me so as to keep a better eye on the Jedi. We had informed Jusik to ask around for a man named Kraath Jennis. Our intel says he is involved somehow but in what way we are unsure.

We had spent nearly half an hour before a man approached us, a Mandalorian with grey and green armour. He informed us that we had drawn attention to ourselves and it would be in our best interests to leave. I informed him, none too kindly, that we would leave when we were done. He chuckled and said we could leave now then. He started to walk away and waved us to follow. I sent Mereel to find Jusik and meet up with us, no way I was going to follow such a strange man without proper backup, even if Kal'buir called us death on legs.

* * *

He lead us silently through the streets until we reach a nondescript house, the only notable difference being the sliding hatch that rested on the door at eye level. The man in front knocked on the door and the slit was opened. After a second the slit shut and the door opened. We all walked inside where we were surrounded by a group of Mandalorians with blasters pointed at us.

'This usually happens at the end of the party not the beginning.' Mereel should take this more seriously, while we may be able to take them all in a fight, there was only fifteen, it doesn't mean we should be complacent, this was after all a confined space which limited movement and allowed for more blind fire.

'Let's just calm down. Put down the guns, we're all vode here.' Prudii didn't like to be seen as being above his brothers, clone or Mandalorian, so insisted they don't call him Spartan or Lieutenant. This strong sense of brotherhood meant he didn't like to have to confront his vode but that wouldn't stop him if it was required.

'Who are you and why are you looking for Jennis?' A Mando in a horrible orange and pink armour asked while he flick of his blaster towards me, motioning for me to speak.

'My name is Ordo Skirata, these are my brothers, Prudii, Kom'rk, A'den, Mereel, Jaing and Bardan. We are looking for Jennis in regards to some rather _interesting_ rumors that have been coming out of Concordia. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?' The men but down their guns and a Mando in gold and red came forward taking of his bucket.

'Those are some heavy names to live up to. My name is Kraath, you must be here to find out about the rumours of a new Mandalore, no?' It wasn't really a question. Jusik handled his shock well, just a little shift in his stance betrayed his surprise.

'If I may ask, who sent you? Skirata is a name I haven't heard in a long time, almost as long as the last time I heard the name Fett.' He was smart, not many would realise that we were sent by anyone let alone realise there was a connection between Jango's disappearance and Kal'buir.

'Dr. Catherine Halsey of Clan Hardeen. The Mother of Spartans.' That sent a hushed whisper through the crowd while Jennis was silent, just nodding his head.

'I had hoped that not hearing of Mother Whisper for so long was the sign of good fortunes but I hadn't dared hope for one such as this. Come, we have much to discuss.' All of moved to the back of the room where Jennis typed a code into a keypad, 256138, just to be safe, and a bookcase moved to reveal a larger room for us all to fit. There were some others there as well making 22 other Mandalorians, plus our 7 making the total 29. There were about 10 tables with 4 seats around them but we positioned ourselves around the edges.

'Vode an, we have some honoured guests, members of Clan Skirata, sent by Dr. Halsey herself, the buir of Clan Sparta.' That was unexpected, I had thought this would be a meeting to promote support for Pre Vizsla or another Death Watch leader, apparently not. Jennis then went onto explain his first encounter with a boy named Shev'la Vizsla who had fought a Jedi pair, a boy that belonged to Clan Sparta. The only Spartan with extensive experience fighting Jedi was… 117. They were talking about John, I opened my comms to Halsey directly, she need to hear this.

Jennis was then going on how the Spartans symbolised a revolution against the hypocritical New Mandalorians, who are willing to fight if it gives them power but restricts us from fighting to take it from them, as per Mandalorian custom.

Jennis talked about how he and his father were apart of the True Mandalorians under Jaster Mereel, the trails against the Death Watch, Jasters vision for a better life for all Mandalorians by returning our honour before ending with the devastation from the Jedi, how they killed hundreds of us and claimed we were in the wrong by killing civilians, a lie.

He then talks about how a new Mandalore is needed to restore our people and reclaim our past. As he was finishing his very impassioned speech he turned to me to take the floor. Our mission was to squash the rumours, stop them from reaching the Jedi Council's ear. I stood, perhaps we didn't need to kill them after all, just convince them of the severity of their rumours and what it would mean for our people. I stood and moved to the front to address the people.

'Mandalore has stood the test of time and survived for a millennia but is now being threatened by those who think as the New Mandalorians do and those who think as the Death Watch do. Constant peace leads to our stagnation causing us to wither and die. Constant war leads to us bleeding ourselves dry. There must be a balance for us to survive and there is only one Mandalorian I know who can do this and his name is John-117, formerly Shev'la Vizsla. He knows of the balance needed for us to survive and can lead us down the right path. Death Watch would have us over extend ourselves leaving us vulnerable while the New Mandalorians would have us do nothing if we are attacked. Only a True Mandalorian like John-117 can lead us, only he can become Mandalore. But… there is an enemy we all forget. The _Jedi_.' Angry whispers were shared throughout the room.

'The Jedi have stood against time and time again, even now they wish to end our people. It was the Jedi who killed the True Mandalorians, stopping a Mandalore from rising to power.' The whispers were getting louder and were moving faster between people.

'It was the Jedi who ensured the safety of the Duchess, who fought for her when she would not fight for herself, and installed her into power.' Many had risen from their chairs and were shouting how the should kill all of the Jedi, how Mandalore needed a new leader, a capable leader. I had to shout to be heard.

'BUT YOU MUST NOT FORGET…' That shut them up.

'That the true children of Mandalore are no longer strong enough to take on such a foe. And the Spartans, who are each capable of killing Jedi, are too few in number to fight them all. We must be patient, we must wait for the time to be right. And when the time is right, John-117 shall declare himself Mandalore and we will, once again, be feared and respected by all who live within this galaxy. When he becomes Mandalore we will reclaim our past but we must wait, wait for the MANDALORE.' They had all broken out into chant. Mandalore, Mandalore. This changed when one called for Mandalore the Reclaimer and then they started to chant Reclaimer. I let them go on for a bit before holding up a hand, silencing them once again.

'We must wait vode, for the Reclaimer comes.' They broke out into cheers for that. Jennis took our group back into the main room, with the sliding book case. He thanked us for our visit and for telling them about John, giving our people hope once again. I told him that they would need to be more careful with who they brought in from now on because if the intelligence arm of the GAR heard about the rumours then the Jedi would soon take notice. He promised he would be careful and remind the others they must wait for the Mandalore in silence. I nodded and we moved to go back to shuttle. While we did silence the rumours, some what, it wasn't in the way I had expected. Bringing all six of Null Squad was a bit of a waste really, but then Halsey wanted us prepared for anything.

I had expected a manhunt to find all of them, believing they were calling for Pre Vizsla or another leader of the Death Watch to declare, but after hearing about them talking about the Spartans I was hesitant. This was why I called Dr. Halsey directly and why she told me what to do, _exactly_ what to do, and say. Her speech had just rallied the Mandalorians and would hopefully quell the rumours by making them all more discreet.

I turned off my external speakers and microphones, that let me speak and hear through the bucket, so only Halsey would hear me.

'It seems your speech worked.' There was a little buzz on the comms before Halsey's voice came through.

'But it was only made possible thanks to a skilled orator such as yourself.' I felt like she was mocking me.

'I didn't do this for you, I did it for the code, for John and for Kal'buir.' Her little mocking laughter came trickling through.

'That's what made it so good.' I cut off the call with her before turning back on my external microphone and speaker.

'Ordo, ORDO. Can you hear me?' Jusik was trying to get my attention.

'I can hear you. What do you want?' He calmed down now but still looked nervous.

'Was that true? Is one of the Spartans going to declare?' I looked at him for a second.

'Yes. The question now is, what are you going to do? Are you going to let us live our lives how we want to, how our _people_ want to? Or, are you going to sell us out and tell the Jedi, letting them interfere with our way of life once again?' Jusik looked deep in thought and didn't notice the rest of the Squad subtly surround him. If he planned to report us we could always say that he was killed helping us dispose of a CIS terrorist cell on Concordia, using the Mandalorian reputation of Jedi Killer to cover how he was killed.

'You're right. You deserve to live your life how you choose, all clones do, and the Jedi should never have interfered with your government. We are supposed to be peacekeepers not dictators. That's why we are fighting in this war, to restore peace, not to install sympathetic governments, controlling them by proxy.' It seems Halsey's assessment was correct, he would make a good Mandalorian.

* * *

Halsey POV

After Ordo ended the call I continued to think about the newest piece of intel we had received. Count Dooku had been captured and was being held on Florum by a group of Weequay pirates. It was a very delicate situation. The Chancellor had ordered that the chance of capturing Dooku to be more than sufficient to pay the ransom, I was of a different mind. Not to sound racist but Weequay were called greedy backstabbers for a reason. While the Clone Troopers were genetically engineered to be more loyal, obedient and independent Weequay were genetically predisposed to try and get anything they could by any means, this combined with a reduced species intelligence, with some rare shining examples, meant their attempts weren't thought out well and blew up in their faces. Pissing off the Republic would be a bad move but one in line with Weequay logic.

This left two options. The first was to do nothing. Interfering would mean that if nothing went wrong we got our chance of extracting information from Dooku, on the other hand, not doing anything may lead to him getting away, a recurring theme with Confederacy leaders. The second was to ensure that Dooku didn't escape, either by ensuring the trade happened or by assassinating him. This would stop Dooku from being a problem and reducing the Confederacy war effort, it would not end the war like the Jedi seemed to believe if the Arena on Geonosis was any example.

'Get me Spartan Team Gray.' The ONI Spartan just nodded, I really needed to come up with something to call them, Operator sounded nice and it fit well too. The Operator transferred the comms of Fireteam Gray to me.

'This is Spartan-006.' Jai. The poor boy didn't have as good a disposition to this type of work as the others. He was a good fighter but a bit too meek and his partner Adriana took advantage sometimes despite Jai being team leader, due to his higher combat score. They liked each other and were the most compatible with each other out of all of the Spartans but Jai hadn't earned Adriana's respect yet and it showed. It was getting better but it wasn't anything noteworthy yet.

They were on their way back from assignment and were the closest to Florum so they were the team that would be sent.

I informed Jai of his new mission, assassinate Count Dooku, if not possible then they were to ensure transfer of Dooku into Republic custody. I would rather we be sure that he cannot make an escape but he did have valuable intel, the thing was we could find it out ourselves it would just take longer.

They were told that they couldn't use their armour so that no trace would be linked to ONI in case something went wrong, all Spartans had some nondescript clothing and some emergency credits in their Pelicans so they would have to use that to blend in. They were also only allowed to take a standard issue Magnum each so as to reduce ties to the Republic.

I wasn't worried, they may not always get along best but they were experts at infiltration and operating behind enemy lines. The Pelican would be remotely recalled as soon as they had left so they would need to find their own way off planet. Now, all I could do was wait.

* * *

Jai POV

We had landed on the outskirts of the pirate base, hiding behind a hill. Adriana had taken a sniper, despite it being against orders, and set up over watch on the cliff surrounding the base. I was to enter and search for Dooku's cell, killing him before the exchange could take place. Originally both of us were supposed to go but Adriana always had trouble following orders, she was one of the worst for it.

I had entered the little market place in the entrance of the base and browsed through the stock, no sense in drawing attention to myself. Adriana had informed me of a weequay force with tanks moving into the plains, it seems Halsey's suspicions were correct meaning my job just became all the more important. While browsing the stalls I had repeated offers for my M-series Magnum, they caught quite the price on the black market, but I didn't want to sell it until a Jawa made a very good price, a price good enough it may draw suspicion if ignored. I accepted and then bought a standard rifle, pistol and a basic helmet with the extra cash. It helped me to blend in more.

Now that I looked the part more I headed into the bar and ordered a drink, something strong. The weequay gave a sinister chuckle before handing me some green liquid and moving on to someone else. I took one sip and was spluttering over the bar. The bartender roared in laughter at that but I just gave him a glare and downed the rest, that shut him up. I stumbled my way towards the bathroom, pretend of course as Spartans can't get drunk, and used this to slip into the halls of the compound. I was moving silently through the halls while keeping radio silence with Adriana.

I had tried my best to avoid conflict but had to take care of 3 gang members while finding my way around, luckily not raising the alarm.

I was opening another door when I spotted two weequay standing guard in front of a door. They turned to the door and, upon seeing me, started to raise their rifles. I snapped off two shots, both head shots, which raised the alarm from those who heard it. I rushed to the door to look for Dooku and spotted him leaning as far as he could into the side wall. The slits on the door made it an impossible shot so I grabbed the key card from the dead guards and opened the door. I was just about to shoot when two Jedi had burst from round the corners of the door. One disarmed me while the other kicked me in the stomach. Dooku snuck behind the two and slipped out of the other door. I clicked the comms three times, our prearranged signal that the target was fleeing.

'Well, well, well. What do we have here?' The Jedi had a smug smirk on his face while the one with the beard looked stoic.

'Step aside. You are not the ones I am after.' The bearded one spoke this time.

'Now I feel slightly insulted.' I took off back through the door I entered from to try and find another way around to catch up with Dooku, I could have shot them but they _were_ Generals in the army, that and I had no time to fight my way past them.

Adriana had used the comms to tell me the spaceport was on lockdown but that there was a weequay saucer preparing for take off and that she would meet me there, I had ordered her to keep overwatch and snipe Dooku when he came out but she wasn't listening. I was rushing down the corridors and firing on anyone I passed. Eventually, I reached the outside and saw Adriana rushing up the steps of the saucer with two dead weequay around her. I ran and jumped onto the closing stairs and rushed to join her.

'What took you so long?' She made to move off, presumably to find Dooku. I grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She resisted and tried to go after Dooku again but I managed to stop her struggling. I then reminder her that Dooku would never have left the planet without his lightsaber and we didn't bring our Spartans Sabers, our armour or even a basic combat knife so it couldn't be traced back to the Republic, meaning we wouldn't survive a confrontation with the former Jedi Master.

'Then what do we do?' She was going to listen to me? That was a welcome change.

'We've lost our shot at Dooku but he will have to land on a Separatist aligned world, which means our mission has changed. Our new mission is to gather intel and sabotage Separatist facilities before finding a ride back to Kamino and reporting back to Halsey. We are cut off from all support and contact which means no reinforcements or directions from ONI. We are on our own and need to work together.' She looked nervous.

'Okay. I'll follow your lead.' I nodded and said we should find a spot to hide. It wouldn't matter if Dooku could sense us but I was hoping our natural resistance to the Force would help to hide us. Only time would tell.

* * *

Halsey POV

This was bad. The Jedi prisoners had been retrieved, we didn't even know they were _captured_ till now, the Chancellor need to share more of his information with us, and Dooku had escaped.

'Status of Gray Team.' I ordered the Operator overseeing them for the report.

'Nothing ma'am. There is no sign of them.' This had gone as wrong as it could get. I ordered that Gray Team be labelled MIA and their Pelican to be scrubbed of all trace of them and for their armour and weapons to be put into storage. Zey could never find out about this. Never.


	13. Chapter 13

Rex POV

It was bound to happen at some point with the way the General acts but to see General Skywalker laid up after getting too injured was a bitter pill to swallow. I hoped he would learn from this and temper himself in the future but I wouldn't hold my breath. Currently I was looking after him while Aayla Secura and Ahsoka took the other clones to hunt for indigenous life. I was tending to the campfire and the General and didn't really have much else to do but wait for him to wake or for the others to come back.

While I waited I thought back on what we had been getting up to in the past month since Christophsis. The Chancellor had been deploying us as of a sort of relief force, in that we go and join a battle as some extra reinforcements to help turn the tide of a battle or to help move things along quickly. We only had about 5 different engagements in the month period with our longest being a week long engagement to help relieve the forces on Mimban. With our track record I wouldn't be surprised if we eventually got sent to Ryloth, word is it had reached a sort of stalemate but we were having a hard time keeping up. If it wasn't resolved soon we could very likely be deployed there.

I also spent time thinking on what had happened during our brief rest periods when the fleet was on standby, specifically when Generals Kenobi and Skywalker got themselves captured by pirates and Jar Jar Binks had to rescue them. That was a very funny story and it had spread like wildfire despite General Skywalkers attempts to stop it. I may or may not have had a hand in this, the General needed some more humbling experiences.

My head snapped up from the fire. There was something moving out there. I got up to do a small patrol of the camp but it had gone silent, not away, silent. It was stalking us, which meant it was close enough to either see or smell us so kicking out the fire wouldn't do much good, no time for my eyes to adjust to the dark and I would waste time starting it up later.

Just then the General collapsed outside the tent and so I went to help him, keeping half an ear out for the creature. The General warned me of its attack but it grabbed my arm and slammed into the ground. It then tried to bite my neck but I held it off. When attempting to draw my Magnum it stopped me by resting a claw on my hand. We spent several seconds wrestling each other but I just needed its claw to shift, a, little. There. A shot rang out and it fled into the bush. I don't know why it shifted its claw, it felt like it was dragged into the position I needed it, but I wasn't going to complain. I reset the General and went back on watch.

The sun was just beginning to come over the horizon when a voice spoke up behind me.

'What happened here soldier?' Holy Osik. I grabbed my blaster and spun round, or at least I tried. A large, firm grasp held my gun in place before I could bring it to bare. It was a Spartan, for such big guys in heavy armour I didn't hear either of them. I hadn't had the pleasure of working with one since Christophsis. What were they doing on such a desolate, backwater world? I felt it best to answer the pair promptly.

'Our ship had crashed and I am looking after General Skywalker while General Secura and Commander Tano took the rest of the survivors to find help.' He nodded.

'Skywalker?! You would be Captain Rex then.' He knew me? How, why?

'Uhh, yes sir.' He nodded again.

'I am Spartan-104 and this is my partner 058.' She just shifted her sniper in a makeshift greeting so I just inclined my head towards her.

'117 has some good things to say about you. I hope you are as good as he says, we may have need of you yet.' The Chief had talked about me? I hadn't realised I left that much of an impression. I had worked closely with him on Christophsis, both to destroy the gun encampment and on the counter assault before the shields were down, but he must have worked with hundreds of clones, what made me so special? I didn't ask that, instead settling on another question.

'Why are you here sir?' It turns out that ONI had received intelligence that Separatist forces were going to be testing a new super weapon, one that targeted organics rather than machinery this time, and that this planet, Maridun, was selected as the testing ground. Only thing was there was no Separatists.

Before we could discuss it further Spartan-058 informed us that we had company. It seems the creature was back and it had brought friends. When they rushed us from the bush the Spartans made short work of them. A cry came from our sides and a small ape like creature came running up to use screaming that we didn't have to kill them, he was right, we could have let them kill us. Somehow I was happy with our current arrangement.

It turns out the small ape creature was a healer and he was able to stabilise the General for transport to the Spartans Pelican where he could receive better medical care. The Spartans carried him back and once he was stable General Secura and the ape, Wag Too, went back to the ape settlement to retrieve commander Bly.

While waiting a Separatist drop ship had come in and settled on the plains. The Spartans had gone on a scouting mission to find out the droid strength and to see what they could find out about the new super weapon.

General Secura and Bly had returned before the Spartans did leaving us little to do but wait, they were our ride off this world after all.

During our wait General Skywalker had woken again, but thankfully he was more lucid and in less pain than before. He wanted to know what had happened during his absence but I was hesitant about mentioning that we had Spartan help. Getting help from people you didn't like can either endeared them to you or you became resentful of them and I had a funny feeling General Skywalker wasn't going to warm up to them any time soon. Ahsoka was of the same mind and left the talking to me.

I tried to skirt around the subject but I still hadn't gotten any better at lying resulting in the General ordering me to tell him everything. When I told him he was expectedly upset. He was starting to rant and rave about the Spartans and how their presence here was of little help to anyone, that they were a detriment, when General Secura cut him off and gave him a dressing down that wasn't well received, if the screwed up face was any indication. While it stopped his tirade I think it had only made things worse. From my experience with the General, while limited, I thought he was the type of person that needed to get what was bothering him out in the open, as internalising it only made it fester and grow far worse than it should be. The fact that he was still hung up about a lost duel to the Master Chief was proof of this.

It was around midday when the Spartans returned and that just set him off again, throwing accusations and threats. General Secura tried to stop him but he wasn't having it this time and demanded to know why they were here. When they told him about the weapon he said he hadn't heard anything about this from the Chancellor which started accusations about ONI purposely withholding information from the Chancellor, he was accusing them of treason.

His reasoning was that his close ties to the Chancellor would have made him privy to such sensitive information and any assurances from the Spartans were disregarded as lies by the General. The Spartans showed no outward sign of any anger, but they were wearing helmets, they just left the Pelican after having failed to convince him. Once they left the ship General Secura started to reprimand him on his behaviour which started a whole new argument. I decide the best course of action was to step outside and motioned for Ahsoka and Bly to join me, an invitation they happily took.

I went to stand by the Spartans who were overlooking the plains from a slight hill only a few meters away from the Pelican. Spartan-058 was lying down and looking down her scope while Spartan-104 was using a set of Macro Binoculars to spot for her.

'What are you looking at?' Spartan-058 responded.

'Sepy leader. Can't find a good shot from this angle though, he's surrounded by droids and it's best not to alert them to our presence by taking a risky shot. No sign of the super weapon either.' The Neimoidian was apparently meeting with the local Lurmen population, as I was later informed they were called, and left soon after, returning to their ship and moving to another location. Spartan-104 went to talk to the Generals about moving out to stop the Separatists and find out what this super weapon was.

He came back nearly 45 minutes later and didn't look happy if his longer strides were any indication.

'John was right, your General is a terrible commander.' I was confused.

'John, sir?' That stopped him in his tracks.

'I wasn't supposed to say that. Repeat it to no one but it's the Master Chief name, John-117.' I hadn't actually thought about if they had names. Clones were all given a number at birth and we chose our own names, I just assumed that most Spartans hadn't picked one yet and that the Master Chief was Spartan-117's chosen name.

'Does that mean you have a name as well sir?' He was hesitant to speak again.

'I do… It's… Fred. My name is Fred-104.' His partner spoke up next.

'I'm Linda-058, from Fireteam Cobalt.' Their trust in us didn't go unnoticed by any other the 3 non-Spartans here and we weren't going to betray that trust any time soon.

'What did you mean before, sir? About the Master Chief being right.' Fred nodded, seemingly happy for the change in subject, but those damned buckets made it hard to understand them, meaning I was guessing a lot on their moods.

'General Skywalker can't get over his dislike of the Spartans to work with us. He has given both you and Commander Tano direct orders to not interfere with our mission. General Secura and Commander Bly will accompany us but she is currently trying to change his mind.' I was struck silent. We were ordered not to help. What the hell was the General thinking?! Ahsoka was far more vocal in her outrage.

The Spartans were giving General Secura until sunset to convince General Skywalker before they had to move out. This was to reach the ship before nightfall. We all waited in silence, knowing that there was nothing we could do as General Skywalker had given a direct order to not interfere knowing that this meant the Spartans couldn't give us any orders to help them.

General Secura join us as the sky was beginning to darken and didn't say a word. We knew she hadn't changed his mind. Ahsoka and I went to join the General in the Pelican, neither of us said a word, not even when we heard the shell of an artillery cannon, not even when the Spartans rejoined us and not even when they told us what happened. We never said a word, not even when we returned to the Resolute.

* * *

Fred POV

We set out quickly and set a hard pace that the unaugmented Commander Bly was having trouble keeping it. Luckily we were closing in on the compound but the sun had been down for close to half an hour. I had Linda take over watch in one of the giant trees that were dotted around the savanna. We were using her eyes to make our way to the compound, being careful to avoid the patrols and watch towers. Once we reached the wall I took out my Vornskr Claws and put them on while Commander Bly attached a rappel cable to his blaster. General Secura didn't have a way to scale the wall by herself and it was too high for her Force augments so I agreed to carry her on my back. We swiftly reached the top of the and quickly dropped ourselves over the other side before we were spotted. Linda still hadn't found this super weapon but the carrier would be the best place to store it, that or the shuttle depending on the size.

I instructed General Secura, who was willing to defer to me for this as I had more experience, and Commander Bly to go to the droid command centre to disable all communications while I headed to the landing craft.

I had entered the craft at the vehicle bay and noticed there were several spaces missing any AAT's. This could be because the craft was understocked but I wasn't too sure of that. It was also supposed to have a full droid contingency which was also missing several squads. I reported my findings to both General Secura and Linda. We decided that Linda would perform a scan of the surrounding area for these vehicles but that was it, they were most likely a scout party or on patrol but as we had yet to find the super weapon we weren't taking chances.

General Secura took Bly to the shuttle to check for the weapon and to secure it for our extraction, we were blowing this joint, literally. I was going around the base planting the explosives given to Linda and I for this mission, we had some more back on the Pelican so we had enough to destroy the weapon if it wasn't here. I was moving through the small barracks for the living personnel when I came to a room filled with Neimoidian art work and extravagant set pieces. There was a personal computer at the centre of the desk. I walked up to it and pulled the remote chip, standard issue so it wasn't up to the same specs as Cortana's chip, out of my helmet and inserted it into the computer. I then contacted ONI Operators to finish the splice.

It only took a few minutes but every second had a higher risk of one of us being found. Linda reported that she hadn't seen the missing squads or the tanks. A shot echoed through the whole savanna plains, followed by a slight whistling sound, like an artillery cannon.

We had to go. I left the chip to give ONI some more time, I could always get a new chip later. Linda went to go see if she could find what the sound was, she would be fine. Linda was the most independent of us all and even John, the Spartan who usually works on his own, says Linda is the strongest Spartan due to the fact she is the only one who truly works alone. I will work with the troopers that we take with us on missions but Linda will happily complete a mission like this with no help at all, not even mine unless she needs it. I was fine with this as I much preferred to be squad leader than anything else, like full command or running mission after mission. No that was for John and Linda. She was so good she didn't even need a spotter, I was only doing so before as the Macro Binoculars gave a wider field of view than the scope of a sniper rifle.

I was quickly on the ship and General Secura was taking off. Once we had passed the wall of the facility I blew the compound, the ONI spooks would have to work with whatever they got as we had no more time. We swung the shuttle back around to the Pelican and landed beside it. Captain Rex and Commander Tano came to greet us and ask us how it went. We told them about the compound and how we destroyed it but the real news came when Linda returned.

'The weapon is a Mobile Artillery Platform with specialised Scorched Earth shells.' Well shit. Scorched Earth tactics is where you purposely destroy valuable enemy targets when you invade or withdraw so as to deny the enemy access to valuable resources or positions. The weapon killed all organic life, which meant food, troops and the local populace were all at risk whenever this weapon entered the field. Linda mentioned she had removed the Neimoidian commander and the weapons engineers, she didn't mention that the weapon was still operational it just didn't have anyone who could fire it. She also didn't mention that the only way that she could have known about the full capabilities of the weapon was that she had seen it in action. She had returned from the direction of the Lurmen village and we all knew what that meant but none of us were going to say it out loud. It was a waste that could have been prevented if we had reached the compound sooner. But we didn't, thanks to _him_.

They were moving General Skywalker, who had passed out again, onto the shuttle. Before they took off General Secura gathered us all together to ask us to not mention what happened to the Lurmen to Skywalker, he wouldn't take it well and he may even blame us Spartans for not being able to save them so it was best he didn't know, it's not like he could check. She also asked we leave it out of our report. We all agreed, I only did so because I like these 4 and didn't want to throw them in front of the speeder, as the saying goes, by having a contradictory report but I would be telling Halsey and warning her on what _General_ Skywalker was like.

After seeing the group off Linda and I went to finish off the MAP. We took the rest of the explosives and some close quarter loadouts to deal with the rest of the tanks and droids. It only took us 10 minutes to reach them at full speed and 3 to finish them off. After wiping out the last of the Separatist presence from the planet I stood at the edge of the wide ring of dead plants, nothing was inside excepted burnt ground, truly scorched earth.

'We wasted too much time trying to get help from a commander who was determined to stop us.' I nodded. Linda was right, this loss of life was the result of spending too much time trying to convince Skywalker.

'This was my fault. I should never have waited so long before moving out. Waiting didn't get us the extra men and it got these people killed.' Linda took her place beside me.

'No. This was the Jedi's fault. They were never meant to lead an army and this is what happens when they do. This is what **we** were trained for, to lead. The Jedi are relics of the past, they refuse to change and this is the result. As Mandalorians changing is how we grow, how we survive. If we never change we will bring about our own destruction. The Jedi haven't changed for thousands of years and this, this is the result. Complete annihilation.'

* * *

Halsey POV

Thanks to Freds chip we were able to extract valuable intel about this new super weapon. The quick work of the Spartan Operators let us extract the full specification for the weapon and it's shells, shells as in multiple different types. There were some that could be shot further, shot shorter; that spread wider, spread quicker or those that were meant for digging into bunkers or for shelling urban environments. We got all of it but the main thing we were missing was the location of production. We knew how it was made and what it was made from but we didn't know where. All we had to go on with that was a single word, Firestorm. That could be anything though, the project name, the name of the facility or it could even just be a description of the weapons capabilities. The thing was we didn't know but it was all we had to go on. If Cortana was back I am of the opinion that she could have been faster and gotten more but she and John aren't due back to work until tomorrow.

To find out more required a covert mission into Separatist space. This called for Black team. Fireteam Black was unique in that it was a four man squad, Margaret and Otto were the lead, assault pair with Roma and Victor as support. The only distinguishing feature on their black armour was a set of old Mandalorian numbers, I, II, III, and IV.

It was a very efficient system that just reused symbols to create a new number, for example I meant 1 and II meant two 1's. The problem was that this system was slow in that it took time to workout the number as you were constantly adding up the symbols to find it out. This is why our current system eventually came into being. The current one used the position of the numbers to denote the size of the group and the unique symbol to denote how many of that group, for example 26 meant two groups of 10 and six groups of 1. This meant we didn't have to spend time working out how big the number was as we already knew.

I was getting of track, _again_ , a very bad habit of mine. Anyway, Fireteam Black specialised in covert missions behind enemy lines and I needed them to find as much on this Firestorm as they could. If it really was nothing then they at least knew what information they were looking for, the production of any Confederacy super weapons.

Another major issue would be the new HK series droids. We have had at least 5 engagements in all and these droids have carved their way through the regular forces. Even Spec Op forces have had marginal success against them. The only real force that has stood against them would be the Spartans, the Jedi may have been able to hold them off but these HK droids having been keeping their distance whenever a Jedi has been nearby. As we learn more about these droids the engagements are becoming more even, Fireteam Crimson had even destroyed one but it exploded upon deactivation, presumably using a built in deadman switch.

The only problem was that while the Spartans were learning so were these droids. Thankfully not as fast as the Spartans but it was slowing our progress. Another factor was that these droids were the first time the Spartans had encountered those who could match their abilities and that also took some adjustment.

We needed to get intel on these droids as soon as possible. While the super weapon, we will call it Firestorm for now until we find out what it really means, is a primary concern due to it being a MAP that can kill all sentient life the HK droids are also a big concern. We need to at least get their full specs but find out where they are produced will be a big help as well. If we get the specs we can make a counter measure against them.

With the return of Null Squad and Jusik from Concordia sending Prudii and Kom'rk would be a good idea. Jaing was good at tracking, he could track anything half way across the galaxy if you believed everything his brothers said, and he was good with finding information but we didn't have anyone for him to track back to the facility. Besides he was more help tracking down Ko Sai, a Kaminoan deserter. Ko Sai was instrumental in creating the accelerated ageing that the clones experienced and her research would be invaluable to me. Now she was no longer under the protection of the Kaminoans she and her research are fair game, and Jaing would never fail at such an important assignment as it would help his brothers immensely.

Prudii was also a good idea for tracking where the HK series was made because I suspect it would lead the pair to many facilities that are producing battle droids, but not the HK series. While destroying these facilities would be impossible for the pair we wouldn't need to thanks to Prudii's ingenious bit of code. This code was Prudii's greatest achievement and it subtly sabotaged the droids coming out of production by inserting this code into the facilities main computer. It built the droids using a revised metallurgical composition that was undetectable by Separatist quality control checks. This change meant the droids crumpled easier allowing for a 2.5 times increase in clone trooper effectiveness. At the start of the war we were fighting at a 1:20 ratio, 1 clone killed for every 20 droids, now we were operating at a 1:50 ratio.

This drastic shift was a major help with allowing us to push the droids back rather than being on even footing with them. If we destroyed the facilities they would just build more, we would slow them sure, but we would never destroy as many as Prudii's revised metallurgical droid makeup. Even if Prudii and Kom'rk didn't find the HK production facility then they will have sabotaged major droid factories that would help us to win the war.

Kal had requested Ordo's presence again so he wouldn't be out in the field for a while. Ordo didn't go out as much as his brothers due to Kal keeping him on Kamino and was busy teaching him non-combat skills that would help him to run Clan Skirata when the time came. Not that Ordo knew this as his intense devotion to his father would mean he would refuse to learn anything that would lead to him, in his eyes, replacing his father. Kal knew he was getting on in his years and that Mando's had a sharp mortality rate once we passed our prime as we were still fighting even as our bodies were growing weaker. Very few made it to an age where they would die of natural causes as most die because they can no longer keep up in battle. Kal was further passed his prime than most, and while he didn't fight in this war, I suspect that once there is a new Mandalore Kal will return to the field as he would never accept dying of old age. He was a man of strong convictions and I admired that in him. He wished to go out as a true Mandalorian should, when he could no longer survive the battle, but he was unwilling to leave his children without securing their future.

The other 2 members of Null will be used as a single squad and be sent to various campaigns throughout the war. Mereel and A'den were the more combat focused along with Ordo but Ordo was also the undisputed leader of the group and had more leadership skills while these two focused on more combat ones. Hopefully Mereel will calm a bit without Ordo there, he respects Ordos command but always takes increasingly risky decisions to try and edge his way out of his brothers shadow. This is a hard task, as while Mereel does know more combat skills Ordo is still more skilled and can use his knowledge and skill to beat any of his brothers. He is the best out of all of the Spartan 3's and the closest one to the level of the Spartans.

Jusik had also returned and, just like I predicted, reported nothing on the rumours from Concordia and gave a false report on their mission, they said they eliminated a Separatist cell trying to recruit warrior Mandalorians to compete with the clone Mandalorians. That should also help to take the Jedi's suspicion off of the Spartans as the Separatists are more likely to try and oust the Duchess than the Spartans are after all. This should hopefully allow for the Jedi to be less hostile towards them, but if Freds report on Skywalker was true then I wouldn't hold my breath.


	14. Chapter 14

Rex POV

Even with this specialised snow armour my balls were freezing. Why Ahsoka got a pass on this assignment I have no idea, I reckon it's 'cause she refused to put any other cloths on and General Skywalker didn't want her to freeze. That or it was because the General thought they need some time apart. We hadn't told him what happened to the Lurmen Village, that they were wiped out because we had spent too much time trying to convince him to help the Spartans, but that didn't mean that some of the resentment didn't leak through. I was marginally frosty to the General, who saw this as a result of me not liking his decision to not help the Spartans, but Ahsoka didn't have such discipline.

Ahsoka had been less forgiving forgiving of the General and she was being as confrontational with him as possible. She had been the one to actually go to the village so her grievance with General Skywalker was less to do with the decision to not help the Spartans, like mine was, and more to do with the fact she knew the people that General Skywalker had, essentially, let die. She had been acting up around he, making snide comments, which saw an increase in her nickname of Snips which resulted in more comments making a vicious cycle. She was also being very huffy when completing tasks for him, giving a little huff of breath and a roll of the eyes before going off to do what she had been asked. The thing that was annoying the General the most was when she pretended she couldn't hear him despite standing right next to him, only responding when he started to shout to get her attention. The General had made an admirable attempt of keeping his calm and trying not to shout to get her attention but he underestimated the stubbornness of a teenage girl and always lost in the end, Kenobi had his hand in front of his mouth a lot when that happened and I was glad I had a helmet that I could turn off the external speaker so no one could hear me.

Kenobi had convinced the General that Ahsoka was just going through puberty, that she was growing up and was going through a faze where she was a little grumpy and argumentative for no reason, and that this was the reason for her acting up around him, all completely normal. I hope to the Gods that she had already been through puberty otherwise the General is going to kill someone when she does, multiple someones probably.

As we were landing on the planet of Orto Plutonia, a desolate ball of ice that only had clone troops stationed on it because some self important arse made a formal _request_ that his people's interests on the planet be protected. He had threatened to withdraw from the Republic and support the Separatists if he didn't get his way and so the Senate scrambled over themselves to comply with his, relatively small, request for troops. Only a single outpost on a dead planet with no droids meant that there was no troopers dying and needing to be replaced so the Senate saw no harm in it if it meant that a system stayed with the Republic.

The outpost had basically turned into punishment detail where rowdy clones could be separated from the rest of the army and not drag the rest of us down with them. When the facility went dark we just thought it was because they couldn't be bothered to check in or because their communication tower went down due to poor maintenance. When scouts reported back that they were all dead we were dispatched to make sure there was no Separatist invasion. Only problem was the Pantorans wanted in too.

Even without having to talk to the Chairman directly I knew that I didn't like him. He was arrogant and greedy, feeling that he was entitled to things. The way he was using the young Senator next to him to get his own way was just disgusting. He was intimidating her to get her to do what he wants, doing whatever he could to tell her what she should be doing. I was glad to go with Kenobi to check on the condition of the outpost, I don't know if I could keep my mouth shut if this went on any longer. Normally I would be setting up the sensor beacons with the rest of the men but General Skywalker was being very accommodating me since Maridun to try and appease me, so I got off snow duty this time, sucks to be them.

I have always considered myself to be a hands on commander that knows that if I am to lead my men I must know how they feel. This is why I work alongside them doing basic repairs, clean up or maintenance, never latrine duty, there are some perks to being in command after all, I do this to experience what my men do. I wouldn't have complained working alongside the men out in the snow but I do like getting out of the cold. Normally.

I my like the warm but I would now rather be out with the men in the cold if it meant I didn't have to deal with Pantoran asshat directly, he was even more insufferable when he was talking to you. After giving the base the all clear he strutted in like some for of mating bird that needed to show of its feather to attract a mate. The thing was we clones were like mammals, we prove ourselves by showing who's the strongest not by puffing ourselves up like a bird, meaning his little mating display did nothing more than irritate us. He called himself the best military leader in all of Pantoran history, well then he should kriffing prove it.

We were looking for clues as to what happened to the trooper when Senator Chuchi made an observation that there was no blaster scoring and no broken droids in response to the Chairmen's statement on this being an assault by droid forces, a statement he made with full confidence. When he started to trying to tell the Senator that she didn't know what she was talking about due to her age I couldn't help it, I laughed. Even Kenobi and General Skywalker turned to me.

'Is something _funny_ **clone**?' Yeah actually, there is.

'Just that you think age has any bearing on military competence. That and the Senator's right, meaning the diplomat knows more about war than the General. So yeah something is funny.' I hadn't even turned around from the computer panel I was looking over to address him directly. He moved from behind the main console to stand right behind me.

'I will have you court martialed for your insolence.' I stood up and turned around to find his face right in my helmet. It was a basic intimidation tactic but it only worked if you were taller, which he was not, otherwise you are left looking up at the person which just doesn't work. in fact it looked slightly comical.

'No you can't. You said it yourself, the Jedi take orders from the Senator and I take orders from the Jedi. That means _she's_ in charge. Not you.' Leant in at that last part and whispered it in his ear. He turned to Senator Chuchi.

'Senator…' I interrupted. No way was I letting him bully that poor girl into doing what he wants her to. I started wagging a finger in his face and talking in the most condescending tone I could muster.

'Uh, uh, uh. The Senator can make her own decisions…' My voice became colder than the planet was and I poked a finger into his chest, giving him a little push with it. '...so back. _off_.' He stepped back up to me, growling through clenched teeth, before palming the pistol at his side.

'Why you…' Just then a multitude of fingers touching triggers echoed through the dead command centre. Every single clone in this room, baring myself, had just grabbed their side arms or primary blasters. They hadn't drawn them yet but the threat was still clear, my boys were with me and we out numbered him. I'm sure even he can see that was a bad position to be in, in a fight. The Senator jumped in.

'Please, let us all calm down. Captain, I thank you for coming to my aid but it is unneeded here.' Seeing that even the Senator wasn't completely on his side the Chairman stomped out of the room. Before he left I could help but give a last parting shot or two.

'Age has nothing to do with competence, every clone here is 10 years old and we have more sense than you. Besides, you may have power on Pantora, but we are not on Pantora now.' He left without saying a word.

'Well, I think we shouldn't leave you around impressionable youths anymore Anakin. Even Captain Rex is picking up some of your bad habits.' Leave it to Kenobi to lighten up a tense situation. Just then one of the troopers came in to report a droid outpost over about 2 klicks out. We started to suit up and head out. Wait. Did Kenobi just call me a kid? That motherf…

* * *

Rex POV

We found droid heads on spikes, same as the helmets back at the outpost. Whoever did this was skilled. To overrun a position fast enough that the enemy didn't even have time to fire wasn't an easy thing to do. Kenobi headed straight for the command centre to see if their was any security footage, a thing that would have been _helpful_ at our outpost if the clones hadn't broken the cameras and not fixed the damn things.

'Damn things, not working…' Kenobi was pressing buttons on the holotable but was only getting a static filled image to appear. I walked up to it and gave it a good kick and the image returned.

'Sometimes you just got to use a little Force.' Kenobi just raised his eyebrow at me and said, in the a deadpan tone, _Funny_. I thought it was and puffed my chest out a little and tilted my head back to let him know as such. Kenobi just shook his head and turned back to the console. A droid had moved into frame and was firing wildly at something, commenting on how they were overrunning their position, whoever _they_ were. Just then something blurred across the screen and the droid was left standing with its head spinning in place before it dropped to the floor. Kenobi restarted the recording and slowed it down. We could see every shot the droid was making before a furry creature came sprinting into frame and made a swing at the droid, even running at a third of the speed the creature still looked like it was sprinting, just slower than a normal human, I estimate that its between 2 and 3 times faster than a clone trooper. Kenobi had paused it on the creature mid swing.

'So, we are dealing with indigenous life.' I nodded my head despite the fact that Kenobi wasn't looking at me so couldn't see it.

'Padded feet? They would be a big help when moving over ice. The fact that it's a biped means its feet would have to be even bigger to better distribute its weight when on ice so the ice doesn't break. Those pads means it will be near silent on metal. With our cameras out and no time to radio in due to the creature's speed it's no wonder our boys didn't fire a shot.' Kenobi agreed with me and my assessment and mentioned we would need to be extra careful from now on. There was something still bugging me though. I got it.

'Ice.' Kenobi turned to me with a puzzled look on his face. 'The troopers back at base had ice forming over them. The shield should have stopped that even without any clones still being alive to man the generator, if not the shield then the heater definitely. But the generator was out, it shouldn't be. Even at their most careless the shield, heater and generator would be the three things the clones at the outpost would need to maintain to stay alive. Thing is the generator was out and it couldn't have been our boys. Do you think that means the creatures did it?' Kenobi started to stroke his chin in thought.

'That would mean an intelligence commonly associated with sentient life.' I thought about it for a second.

'Do you think the Pantorans actually sent someone to survey the planet or just got someone like the Chairman to do it and they just went _yep, no one here this is ours now_?' Kenobi stopped stroking his chin, having decided on our next move.

'We will need to do our own survey of the area to be sure.' I made to leave.

'I'll round up some men then.' Kenobi stopped me and said I was to head back to the base.

'Why? I would have thought you would want me as far away from the Chairman as possible.' Kenobi reiterate that the Chairman wasn't in charge here, the Senator was. He wanted me back at base so that I would look after the Senator.

'She does, after all, seem to like you.' I puffed out my chest again.

'What's not to like?' A smirk was starting to form on Kenobi's face.

'Well they do say children get on better with their own age group.' Damn him.

'Sir, I'm 20 years old.' His smirk only grew.

'And here I thought you said you were 10.' I just gave a huff. Don't say anything Rex, don't say. A. Word. It will only encourage him. I turned and walked away, heading to my speeder. Kenobi couldn't help himself.

'Play nice with the other children.' Oooh. I was SO getting him back for this. I passed Skywalker on the way who did nothing to hide his smug smile from me, happy someone else was on the receiving end of Kenobi's _humour_. I was sure of it now. The Kaminoans **did** suppress my humour, 'cause this shit ain't funny.

* * *

Rex POV

I got back to base to find the Chairman strutting around again, finding his confidence again after I left. I rid him of it again pretty quickly. I always made sure to ignore him when he addressed me, it was always to give me an order anyway, and to turn to the Senator to ask what she wanted me to do. She was loving it. Being able to get one over on someone who made it their mission to put her down and the chance to prove herself went a long way to improving the girl's confidence and getting her to come out of her little shell.

The Chairman was getting more and more wound up which meant he starting giving me more and more orders and me and the Senator getting more and more excited and getting more out of hand.

'Captain I am ORDERING you to DO AS I SAY.' The Chairman was getting a little purple in the face.

'Now, Captain. I expect you to follow my order to the **letter**. And those orders are to do absolutely **nothing**.' I snapped of a salute to the Senator who was trying so, so hard to suppress her smile but just couldn't.

'Understood sir.' Her smile was growing and her shoulder were starting to shake.

'No, no, no Captain. You were talking. My orders are for you to do nothing. Do you understand?' She had put her fist to her mouth now.

'Perfectly sir.' She was laughing now and the Chairman's shoulders were shaking and his teeth were audibly grinding.

'No Cap... Captain, *giggle*. You are supposed to… to… *snort* do nothing.' She was starting to make laughing sounds now and the Chairman's was just watching us, gripping his console harder. Just then a trooper rushed in.

'Sir.' The Chairman whipped around at him and roared.

'WHAT!' The trooper was taken aback.

'Uh, the, uh, G, uh, Generals Kenobi and Skywalker are back… sir. I just got something to uhm, to do… something.' He was backing away as he was talking before making a fast walk out of the command centre.

' **Finally**. Someone sensible.' He stormed out of the room and Chuchi and I waited a second before we burst out laughing. It took a solid minute before we could calm down, and that was just because we were out of breath. After taking a moment to recover Chuchi thanked me and said that, in truth, she had dreaded this assignment, having worked with the Chairman before, and that I had helped her a lot. I thanked her and said that she didn't need to thank me as I was happy to help, and I was. I didn't like watching others pick on another just because they could, it was even worse when you did it to force someone to do something they didn't want to do.

Finally Kenobi walked in with General Skywalker and he had an exasperate look on his face.

'I thought I told you to play nice.' My turn, finally.

'You said to only play nice with the children and in my book 50+ isn't a child, unless you think differently, _again_.' He just sighed. I ask what he found and he said the found the creatures and they were capable of speech. Kenobi had arranged for peace talks with the creatures, the Talz, and he wanted the Senator to be there to make a formal treaty with them, they were technically the owners of the planet now, not Pantora, because they were the indigenous species and were sentient. They also said that the Talz had request only a few soldiers be allowed to come so most of us would be on standby for now. I asked about the Chairman and Chuchi said that he wasn't need for peace talks so they would head out without him, I was to stay behind and watch him. I nodded and followed the three to the speeders and waited for them all to load up and move out, only ten men went with them.

After they left I headed back up to the command centre. Once there I thought about where the Chairman was and asked the nearest trooper to find him. He came back to tell me it the Chairman was in his temporary quarter talking to someone. He must have been using a personal holocommunicator.

It had been quiet for several hours and nothing had happened except the storm had gotten worse. We had gotten the communication array fixed but couldn't get through to the Generals now that the storm was this bad. If something bad happened then we could just ride out to them, they had left location of the peace talks in the Nav Computer after all.

Wait, what was that?

There was a low humming sound that was getting steadily louder and louder. I walked up to the window and several Gunships of unknown design landed in front of the outpost. The doors opened and showed a group of Pantorans in armour with standard issue blasters, clone blasters. The Chairman was walking out towards the lead Gunship and then the doors closed once he was inside. The Gunships then took off and headed out into the wasteland. Where was he going? The only thing that way was the… Peace Talks. Osik. The Chairman had been rating about Pantoran sovereignty since he arrived, he must be going after the Talz as he must have seen them as a threat to Pantorans sovereignty over Orto Plutonia.

I rushed down to the hanger and ordered for all remaining Gunships to be filled with as many men as they could handle. One of the engineers came to tell me that the Gunships couldn't fly in this weather. I pointed out that Pantorans we doing it but he assured me they would encounter a lot of problems flying in this weather. I asked how the bikes would handle it and he said they would be fine so long as their engines were running and didn't freeze up. I ordered all bike maintenance to halt and for the engineer to rig a communication booster onto my speeder, so that we could contact the Generals sooner and warn them of the incoming Pantorans. I gave him ten minutes and went to round up enough men to fill each bike. After nine minutes, our engineers understood the urgency of the situation it seemed, the booster was mounted and we headed out.

We were pushing the bikes hard to try and catch up to the Gunships and I used this time to inform the men what our mission was. We were heading to the peace talks to stop the Pantorans from starting a war. We were to try and radio ahead and inform the Generals of the incoming Gunships, 5 of them, and warn they may be hostile. I also told them to be prepared for a firefight if the Pantorans reach the talks first and to be prepared for hostile Talz, we had no idea how they would react to this.

It seems the engineer was right. The Pantoran Gunship were flying just ahead of us, by the end of the ridge, and seemed to be going slower than normal. We were coming up on them and eventually passed under them on the ice plains. They must have only just noticed us because they were picking up the pace, only problem for them was that the ships were starting to shake from the strain on the engines. The speeders were gradually edging us away from the Pantora before the Pantorans decided to start firing missiles. We all took evasive action but the missiles passed right overhead and flew to an ice bridge up ahead that crossed a canyon.

'BREAK AND TURN' The men followed quickly and, while we spun out, we stopped a few steps from the edge of the canyon. The Gunships looked a lot faster when we didn't have the speeder bikes that's for sure. I order all men to attach their rappel cables and head for the canyon. Just in time too, as the Pantorans started firing on the speeders. We lost 2 in the blast but the rest of us managed to attach our cables to the canyon edge and rappel down. Once we reached the bottom we hugged the canyon walls and waited for the Gunships to fly overhead, but they didn't. They settled on the top so I ordered one of the men to ascend to the top with me so we could count their numbers.

'That's around 20 per Gunship, near 100 strong in all. What do we do sir?' We waited until they entered their Gunships and took off before I told him to head to the bottom so I could give everyone their orders at once. At the bottom we told them of the size of the enemy force and how they outnumbered us nearly 4 to 1, we only had 23 men after losing the 2 at the top.

'Echo, Jesse. I need you two to head back to base and contact Admiral Yularen with the communications array. Tell him we need ODST drops about half a klick west of the peace talks, we don't want to drop troops on our own men. Tell him that Pantorans are hostile but Senator Chuchi is to be considered a VIP and not to be shot. If the storm is still too strong for the array then use a Gunship. I don't care what the engineers say, find some Flyboys and get in the air so you can deliver the message in person.' I also told them to advise caution when dealing with the Talz, we don't know if they will be hostile so only fire if they show aggression first. Before taking off they both grasped one of my forearms each and I grasp one of theirs in turn, we then shared the customary good luck message _Gods Fortune_. It meant, I hope the Gods find you fortunate. The two gave a salute and ran down the canyon back towards base. We were about 3 kilometers, klicks, out from base and had 2 more to go before we reached the talk site so they were unlikely to reach the Admiral in a timely fashion, may not reach him at all if they don't even make it back, but we may need those extra men so they had to try. I turned to the rest of them.

'We are going to have to book it to make it in time to help the Generals, so anyone that lags behind is left behind, we cannot go back for you. When we get there we will be tired and outnumbered. We will then have to jump straight into a firefight and have to kill around four Pantorans each, but that isn't going to happen. That's because we are worth ten of those bastards, **do you understand**.' A chorus of _sir yes sir_ 's came back.

'Even tired and exhausted we are worth ten of them and nothing will stand in our way. Am I right?'' The roar of Oorah's was music to my ears.

'Damn straight. Let's move out.' We took off as fast as we could go. The winds had died down drastically due to the canyon walls but as we got closer and closer the the edge it started to pick back up. When we exited the canyon and into the main storm we had slowed to a fast trudge. Watcher was the first to fall behind but we had to leave him. He was still moving but his speed was too slow for us to going at his pace. We still had a full 1.2 klicks before we reached the Generals and we couldn't slow for anything, not even one of our own. Hardcase was the next to fall behind when we were less than 0.75 klicks out. He knew the way and would make it back, I'm sure, but we were climbing over a mountain at that point and we lost him in the one of the passes. We would have to come back for him if he didn't turn up, Watcher too. We knew when we got close to the fighting as we could hear the sound of blaster fire.

'Alright men, double time.' We doubled our already arduous pace, coming to the foot of a hill we had to climb.

'With all due respect sir, fuck you.' Hevy. He was pushing himself hard and I was impressed by his performance today, Fives too.

'Sorry Hevy, I don't fancy my brothers.' It was nice to have a bit of levity when we were exhausted and about to fight, it helped to lift the spirits, and Hevy was a good trooper to joke around with because of his unfiltered mouth. Usually we were laughing at the trouble he got himself in because of it but sometimes we were laughing at the things that came out of it. He had a good sense of humour. There goes my theory of the Kaminoans repressing it.

'Asshole.' Sometimes he just made it too easy.

'I don't need to know your preference as well Hevy.'

'Go screw yourself.' We were near the top now.

'Hevy.'

'Yes sir.'

'Shut the fuck up.' He did. Just when reached the crest of the hill too. Luckily the hill gave us a great overview of the battle. The peace talks were to take place in a downed Separatist scout cruiser, probably here to survey the area but it must have been caught in one of the storms that were so frequent on the planet. The crash had caused a small but deep trench to form. The trench provided some protection from the storm and so allowed for a clearer view of the battlefield than if it had taken place on an open plane. Pantoran numbers looked to have take little casualties but I spotted at least 3 dead clone troopers and a whole slew of dead Talz.

From our overwatch position we could see that our troops had holed up in the down cruiser and were using the debris as cover while the Pantorans were using some of the craters as cover along with their Gunships. The Talz were charging the Pantorans but they had to do so without blasters. Some of the Talz were on some weird creature mounts but most were on foot. A major problem was they were more liable to get caught in the crossfire, reducing their numbers leaving barely any who were still alive.

I ordered my men to open fire on the Pantorans and with our elevated position we could bypass their cover. I didn't see the Chairman but I wasn't looking too hard. The boys were delivering on their promise to kill ten Pantorans each as we were thinning their numbers quickly. The problems started when one of the men screamed Talz'. It appears Talz' reinforcements had come in and were coming for us. I ordered us to charge down the hill towards the cruiser and to not fire on the Talz, we would see how they reacted once the Pantorans are gone. We were firing on the Pantorans on the run down but 4 men were hit during the run and collapsed into the snow.

We reached the cruiser and that brought our total up to 22 men but another 5 more Pantoran Gunships were just starting to land. The Chairman was the first to step off. The first 5 most have been the advanced force and we must have passed the Chairman's group going over the mountains, due to the Gunships not being able to fly too high or risk crashing. I asked where the Generals were and one of the troopers informed me they were on the other side of the cruiser covering the flank.

I took 3 men with me to reinforce the flank. Once I reached them I found out why they needed to be here. The Pantorans had set up a rotary turret and a small group of other Pantorans, a possible infiltration group, were set up next to it. The Jedi's lightsabers, Kenobi's in particular, were instrumental in keeping the fire off the men. This must have been a recent thing as the Jedi were using the Rotary blaster fire to pick off the Pantorans while the clones were trying to pick of the Rotary gunners. With an additional 4 men we made short work of them.

After explaining what had happened and why we were here Kenobi praised me on my quick thinking and now we only needed to hold out until the reinforcements arrived. We left the rest of the troops here to cover the flank while we headed back to the main fight. As we were moving I asked were the Senator was but all Kenobi knew was that she was with the Talz leader, Thi-sen, when the fighting broke out and hadn't been seen since.

The fighting went on for another hour or two before the ODST's finally dropped and came to reinforce us. Our overwhelming numbers made quick work of those that remained and we then went about cleaning up the dead and finding any survivors. The Chairman had been killed during the fighting and we recovered his body to send back to Pantora. After checking the battlefield we started to look on the hills surrounding the battle. As I was looking around I spotted a purple figured hunched over and moving. I took out my pistol and moved towards it swiftly.

As I got closer I saw that it was Chuchi and so holstered my pistol and ran towards her. There was a dead Talz with a bone head crest and a spiked shell on its back. She was sat with a pistol in hand, crying. I thought she may have killed the Talz before I saw the dead Pantoran near her, who had been shot in the chest. When I reached her I took the pistol out of her hand and put my arm around her. She was sobbing hard into my breast plate and so I picked her up and took her back towards the downed cruiser.

As I was walking down the hill some Republic Gunships flew overhead and started to land in the centre. When I got to the ships I made to hand Chuchi to one of the troopers manning the craft but she wouldn't let go, and just kept saying no over and over again. I ordered one of the other Gunships to head back and follow the mountains towards the canyon to look for Hardcase and Watcher before boarding another and heading back to base with Chuchi in arm.

The Generals arrived later, after all of the dead and wounded had been transported back to the outpost, it had taken multiple trips. Hardcase had been found but was suffering from hypothermia and Watcher was found frozen and half buried, they had to dig out his body but we were going to give him a proper Mando funeral. Chuchi had a mild case of frostbite but was more traumatised by the fact that her own people had started a full scale war for a planet they had no use for just because they could and the fact that she had to kill one her own people. After a quick call to her moons government to tell them what had happened it was decided it was best for all Pantoran and Republic forces to leave the planet and to leave the Talz in peace. The Talz may have let us leave the cruiser but they definitely weren't happy with us.

Before our full evacuation off world Chuchi had given me her personal holo number and asked me to keep in touch. She also thanked me for all I had done for her but I brushed it off. I failed to stop this pointless war, no matter how short it really was, and certainly didn't deserve praise for that. I didn't tell her that though, not wanting to upset her, and kept her number. I planned to introduce Ahsoka to her, the girls could do with a friend their own age.

Chuchi had also insisted on attending the clone funeral procession over the Pantoran one, that was happening at the same time, and watched as we burned our dead and sang the Aay'han, the funeral chant of our people. I was at the front because I was the senior ranking Mandalorian and Chuchi stood beside me, the Generals stood at the back as Jedi weren't welcome by Mandalorian tradition and this was one of the few, proper traditions we had so we kept to it. Chuchi was allowed by my side as she the one to pay respects to the dead. Normally this would be family members but we couldn't have every trooper up here so it was decided that the girl who shed tears for all our fallen brother was allowed to pay the respects. After our song had ended she moved up to the pyres and offered a silent prayer for them all. They were with the Gods now, may they live again never wanting. We left soon after, leaving a desolate outpost and the ashes of the dead to wander its halls.


	15. Chapter 15

Halsey POV

A hologram appeared in front of me. I didn't accept the call so it must mean the person has an override code, the Chancellor then. His small visage gave me a shallow bow and a greeting.

'I am afraid I have a personal favour to ask of you Director. I am aware of the pressure that ONI is under to find valuable intelligence about the Separatists and their movements but I have a personal problem that is in need of ONI investigation.' Interesting. The Chancellor had a very hands off approach to ONI, his only major decision being the start of the Spartan 3 project after I informed him that it would be impossible to make Spartans out of the clone army, due to their suppressed Spartan gene. The only other personal interaction I had with him was when I made a report in person every 3 months on Coruscant, I still sent daily reports for him to read and then file but the personal report was to also take about ONI's directions or for me to answer any questions he may have. This request must have something to do with the droids on Naboo. I asked as much.

'You are a credit to your field Director Halsey. Yes, Naboo has found some battle droids and I am fearful of another invasion. If you may spare a team to investigate the matter I would be most grateful.' I informed him that an effort could be made to spare a team but he then asked for a specific team, Blue Team. The Chancellor must be very worried about another invasion if he wanted both John and Cortana, he must know something more, he had a bad habit of not sharing information with ONI in the past, just look at the Florum incident. With the situation on Ryloth taking a turn I needed every intelligence asset I could to help coordinate Spec Ops forces with Windu and to help uncover intelligence on droid numbers, placements and strategies. There had even been rumors of an fleet being mounted to take back the planet from space and set up a blockade. We needed all hands on deck a Cortana was on of the biggest assets I had at the moment. John had just finished an assignment on Felucia, helping General Secura to take out a key droid staging area so was available, I had planned on sending him to Ryloth but with word of a blockade fleet this needed to be put on hold. I informed the Chancellor of the situation and of Johns availability, he said that it would be perfect and such high quality help was appreciated. After thanking me he ended the call.

Droids on Naboo was a major concern. Not because Naboo was critical to the war effort, it was anything but, but due to the fact that droids on one of the Core Worlds was a troubling thing. The fact that we hadn't detected them entering the Core was another problem. I agreed to send John because I trusted him to deal with the situation, not because the Chancellor made the request.

* * *

Palpatine POV

Well they were certainly creative. I looked over the report Dooku sent me on the various new weapons the Separatists were developing, Naboo's in particular. The call to Director Halsey had turned out as well as expected, while she had agreed to send Spartan-117 I knew it wasn't because I made the request. Halsey had turned into an increasingly good choice for director of ONI, not just due to her skill and efficiency when running the department, but due to the fact that she couldn't be bought or influenced by people in power, even myself. This meant that so long as I gave her enough free reign to run the department how she wished while giving her the overall direction to take ONI in then she wouldn't rebel, giving her something to lose if she rebelled and something to gain if she remained loyal. I knew she had used ONI assets for her own covert missions but giving her that ability will mean she will want to keep her position of ONI Director and the perks that came with it ever after I formed my Empire. I will need to place a few more loyal agents in ONI once the war was over but doing so during may cause Halsey to begin doubting me and my gentile image. If she becomes suspicious of myself, suspecting me of inevitably betraying her, then she may start to make plans to betray me in turn. While her suspicious wouldn't be wholly inaccurate, she has a lot of power as Director of ONI and I have plans to dispose of her just in case, she has more use alive than dead so it was best to keep her happy for now so I can ensure a smooth transition at the formation of the Empire.

I had request that Spartan-117 to head to Naboo so that I could test his capabilities to the fullest. I had read increasingly glowing reports on his actions and I knew Halsey wasn't one for embellishment, a bit of exaggeration maybe but nothing too over the top. Spartan-117 could become a very high ranking and important member of the Imperial Military once I took full control over the galaxy and I wanted to see first hand what he will do, we can test his competency at command at a later period, at test of his combat abilities is more than enough for now. I was assured of his loyalty to the clones and, while I was confident I could turn his loyalties towards Halsey into trust in me by bringing Halsey into the fold of the Empire, it was his hostilities towards the Jedi that held the most promise.

If he performed well on this mission then I would start making plans to have Spartan-117 to head my Jedi Hunter division when I final gave the Order, a command position that would have a lot of clones under his command so his combat and command abilities must be recorded with care.

I had hoped for Anakin and Spartan-117 to eventually develop a close working relationship, if not a small friendship, but there was no real loss there. In fact I hoped to turn their hostilities towards each other into a way to direct Anakin towards the darkside faster than expected. This mission to Naboo would only help when Anakin's jealousy, at his greatest enemy being in close proximity to his wife without being there himself, flares. And who should be their to comfort him but his good friend Sheev Palpatine.

I had held off on informing him about the fate of the Lurmen village because, one, I technically don't know about their fate as it wasn't in the report of any involved in the incident and, two, because it may lead to Anakin to start becoming more tolerant of the Spartans and, as of now, they are instrumental to pushing him towards the dark side and causing a rift between him and the Jedi, as seen by his hostility towards Aayla Secura when she spoke in defence of the Fireteam Cobalt.

I had sent an order to Dooku to make preparations for Spartan-117's test. Let us see how the greatest Mandalorian deals with the greatest Mandalorian killer.

* * *

John POV

I had arrived in the hangar of Theed Palace and was greeted by a party that consisted of the current ruling Queen, Neeyutnee, Senator Amidala, her droids, Representative Binks and Captain of Security, Typho. After a round of greeting I followed them to the room in which they were examining the droids they found and deactivated, a generous term for the state of the droids.

A medical droid opened up the tactical droids central processor and then reconnected it allowing the Senators Protocol droid to talk to it. When talking with the Protocol droid the Tactical droid mentioned that transfer of the virus and laboratory conversion was complete and evacuation procedure was now in effect. We may have found out more if Representative Binks hadn't dropped several shelves of droid parts on the thing, breaking the droid in the process. He then took off again to chase after a bug that was flying around. Typho started the speculation on the information provided by the droid, ignoring Binks entirely.

'They must know about the missing droid and order a full evacuation. If we hurry maybe we can catch them before they leave.' I jumped in.

'Then how did this droid receive the order? It was offline, meaning the evacuation order was given before it was deactivated. Then there's the Virus. Recent reports on Separatist super weapons report the development of artillery shells that can reduce all life, within the blast radius, to ash. They have been trying to develop a shell for urban environments but the blast keeps getting blocked by metal and rock, this virus may be their alternative. The lab conversion could be because they have finished virus development and are now working on deployment methods. The evacuation could be because they were compromised or because they are changing the staff manning the facility.' The others took their time to take it all in before the Senator added her thoughts.

'They would never sign off on a virus they don't works, they must have tested it. There has been no major reports of sickness in Theed's so they must have tested on a small source of nearby citizens. The Gungans have set up several farms near the grasslands, where the droids were found, they must have tested it there.' A reasonable assumption. Now we just had to narrow down the area further, the grasslands was a lot of land to cover.

There was a buzzing sound by my ear so my hand shot up and grabbed it. It was a light grasp, so that I didn't squash the bug, its wings were fluttering through the gaps in my hold. Binks came over to ask for the bug and I offered my hand to him. It was like offering a treat to Whip, the way he just ate it out of my hand. Speaking of Whip it was nearly time for his lunch, I needed to get back to the Pelican to feed him. This would be our first mission together, as I wanted to start him off with something small first, and I left him on the Pelican so he didn't cause any problems for the Naboo.

Senator Amidala asked about the bug that the Gungan was so interested in and he said it was a rare delicacy only found in a small area. That got my attention, so I asked him where they were found. After he told me I made my way back to the hangar without waiting for the others, we had our search area and there was no time to be wasted. Just as I was reaching the hangar doors Senator Amidala had caught up to me and asked me to wait. I just carried on to the hangar before she asked me to wait again, I stopped. Didn't she realise I was busy? This mission was of clear importance due to this new virus and she was wasting time. When she caught up to me she informed me she was coming too, no she wasn't.

With the clones I had a good idea what they were capable of and they had been trained for this sort of thing, I was not going to bring an untrained civilian into all of this. She didn't take it well and stated, indignantly, that she could take care of herself. I said I didn't doubt it but she wasn't trained to be a soldier and would only get in my way. As she was starting to argue that she wouldn't, that her knowledge of the area would be invaluable,that's when I heard it. A sound I was intimately familiar with. The charging of a blaster.

I pushed the Senator to the side and a blaster bolt passed right where her head had been. It splash against my chest and my shields flared slightly. A rust coloured droid dropped from the rafters followed by another, HK series droids. My guns and Spartan Saber were back on the Pelican. While Jedi may be comfortable with walking into a person's home with a weapon it was a sign of distrust in Mandalorian culture. It meant you didn't trust the person and you thought they may attack you or you didn't think them capable enough to defend you if you are attacked, either way a massive insult. So it was a good job a Spartan was a weapon in their own right.

'Compliment: You have impressive sensory capabilities and reaction time… for a meatbag.'

I charged the first droid that held a Vibroblade. I blocked the overhead swing and delivered a body shot that sent it to the feet of the other droid, the droid that had started to take potshot with its rifle.

I charged it, dodging each of the bolts despite the lessening distance between us. The other was climbing back to its feet but I dropped into a sweep kick. The rifle wielding droid jumped but the other was sent back to the floor as its legs were taken out from under it. A shot hit my shoulder as I was getting to my feet and I grabbed the leg of the droid in the air, swinging it at the HK getting up once again. Both went sailing across the hangar at hit one of the starfighters lined up against the wall.

I wasn't as fast as someone like Kelly but if I could get a good run up I could get some decent speed, so I charged the droids. They were faster to their feet this time and dove in opposite directions. I couldn't turn on a dime like Kelly could so I crash into the starfighter, causing it to crumple under the force. I had moved before several bolts splashed against the useless machine, exactly where I just was.

I ducked under the wild swing of the Vibroblade and dodged a shoulder slash followed by an evisceration strike at my stomach. I grabbed the blade and punched the droid, denting the chassis. I swung it around to take the blaster fire from the other droid that was now jumping up on several of the starfighters to get a better position.

I snapped off the arms of the HK droid I was holding and gave it a kick, that dented the chassis even more, sending it flying into one of the hangars support columns. It blew up after it's deadman switch activated. As the droid was flying I rolled back and started to dodge the automatic fire that the HK at the top of the .starfighter column was now using to catch me off guard. As I took cover behind several boxes it switched back to single fire mode.

I took a deep breath and spun out of cover, activating Spartan Time. Switching the Vibroblade into a reverse hand grip and I pulled it behind my head. I took a second to line up my shot and then threw the blade, hitting the droid right in the head. It pinned the droid to the fighter before exploding, taking the fighter with it. I walked past the Senator, reminding her she would only get in my way before continuing to the Pelican.

Upon entering I fed Whip and took us to the grasslands in search of the trees Representative Binks had told me about. I put Whips specially designed combat harness on him, It was made from a lightweight Beskar alloy Halsey had designed. It offered reduced protection but it wouldn't weight Whip down and reduce his speed. He had the strength to take the full weight of Beskar but he would be slow and a Vornskrs speed was one of their greatest weapons. After landing near the swamp I covered the Pelican with some nearby foliage and let Whip take the lead into the swamp.

* * *

Padme POV

What the hell was that?! The pace of those droids and this, this super soldier, was something else. They moved like blurs and the Spartan walked away without even carbon scoring on his armour. He had rammed into a STARFIGHTER and walked away without a scratch, leaving just a wreck of a fighter behind. Captain Typho rushed into the hangar and dropped to my side, asking if I was alright. Even now he still worried about me. I told him I was fine. I got to my feet and winced as my shoulder started to throb.

'Just be glad those things are on our side. If the Spartan wanted, you could have been paste on those walls or be missing your head. To have the strength to destroy a starfighter by running at it and to bend metal with just a punch is a frightening prospect.' I had to agree. I looked at the various marks that stood testament to the fighting that took place over the last minute. To see such devastation done in such a short time was unbelievable. The stories about these Spartans must be true. There were just… something else.

I headed to my Nubian Starship before Typho asked where I was going. Where else, after the Spartan. Typho tried to stop me, as he always had, but he must have actually learned over the years, if I have my mind on something then nothing will stop me. I quickly readied the ship and took off before anyone else tried to stop me. I was already over the grasslands before I had even thought to bring Jar Jar or C-3PO. Just before I could even think about going back for them I spotted the Spartans ship and landed next to it. It was curiously covered with some foliage and I wouldn't have spotted it if a pack of Kaadu, the Gungans favoured mounts, hadn't revealed it by pulling off the plants, trying to get an easy feast.

I started to look for tracks around the ship but could find none. Was he still inside, because it should be impossible for a man that heavy to leave no tracks. Just as I was going to check inside I noticed some faint footprints in the muddy areas of the swamp. When I went to take a look I noticed a set of even fainter paw prints on the inside of the Spartans footprints. Was he tracking something? How would that lead to a hidden Separatist lab? I wasn't sure but I followed anyway, if he was lost then I could help direct him. I _did_ know where I was going after all, sort of.

* * *

John POV

Whip liked to be in front due to his longer gait. He always checked where I was before he went too far but still he was trotting on ahead. I had input the special type of tree that the Representative told me about into the Pelicans navigational computer and isolated the search to Naboo. The computer then searched its database for any matching locations on the planet. There were several outcrops all over the planet but there was only one near to Theed. I landed on the outskirts of the swamp and covered the Pelican so that the droids wouldn't find it and then took Whip and made my way towards the outcrop.

I was taking things slow so that I could hear for any droids or hostile fauna. Whip was in stalking mode and was making sure his profile was small with his shoulder haunched. His shoulder blades raised and fell with every step, it was strangely fascinating, watching an apex predator at work. Usually Vornskr work in packs but Whip was a lone Vornskr, though I suppose Cortana and I are his Pack now, and had to rely on me to help him hunt. He wasn't tame by any stretch but he did follow my orders, we had a few close calls with some of the Cuy'val Dar who took exception to Whip tripping them up, they backed down quickly when he started showing his teeth and growling. Whips pace slowed to a crawl, he could smell something. It could have been an animal but he just had his food and while it was a small one for Vornskr, who usually have a big meal that lasts them for a few days, it should hold him for the next day or two. The real clue that we were close was when he suddenly straightened his head and flattened his ears. A byproduct of all the live fire exercises I took him through meant he recognised a charged blaster by smell and sound, it had developed into an ability to tell when a blaster was nearby and a sort of sixth sense when blaster bolts were heading for him, resulting in an increased ability to dodge blaster fire.

As Whip lay down on his belly and waited for me to take the lead in this hunt, as he had been taught to, I turned my silenced SMG to single fire mode. It acted a bit like an overpowered silenced pistol but that worked for me. I slowly brushed aside the bush in front of me to see a B-1 and B-2 battle droid sinking into the ud with a Gungan over the B-2's shoulder. So they were experimenting on Gungan farmers then. After the hatch closed I snuck closer but kept a good lookout, they needed to be able to monitor the entrance someway otherwise they could be coming out of the lab and run into someone without knowing, blowing their cover. Once at the hatch I looked for a way to open it. It had a release latch which opened it manually. Whip took a sniff at the edge but nothing was nearby, droid or organic life form. I went first and Whip followed. I picked a corridor and started to head down it, looking for the command centre.

* * *

Padme POV

I followed the trail to a small metal hatch that looked to have been used recently. I radioed my position to Captain Typho and asked for a scan of the area. I also thought it best for the Jedi to be informed. Now that there was more to this than meets the eye the Senate should be able to send some Jedi reinforcements. I asked Typho to contact the Republic High Command and see if they could spare Obi-wan and Anakin, due to the uhhhh, the uhhh, ooh the tense relations with the Gungans recently. That should work. The pair should be bringing along some clone reinforcements to, so that's a plus

I was just about to lift the latch when a squad of battle droids rose up from the mud and aimed their blasters at me. It seems I wouldn't be getting in via the hatch after all.

They were escorting me through the base but hadn't said where they were taking me. As we were passing down one of the corridors I saw dead Gungans floating in tanks, their faces frozen in the throes of an agonizing death. I closed my eyes and lowered my head, it was just too much. They marched me into a room with a Faust wearing a trench coat and a large armoured being.

'Aha a new guest, but not the guest we were expecting.' The Faust started taking, he looked to be a scientist while the hulking figure was a fighter without a doubt.

'Just kill her and be done with it.' The scientist looked amused.

'Patience Durge. I am Dr. Nuvo Vindi. I had hoped this would be over quickly, but it seems not.' Dr. Vindi moved over to a console.

'What do you want with me?' He gave a chuckle while the warrior stayed silent.

'Nothing, my dear, absolutely nothing. I have all I could want from the Gungans you saw before. My greatest creation now lives again, the Blue Shadow Virus, and now we may begin on deployment, Dooku wants shells but he won't need them with what I have planned. Durge here has no need of you either as he is already to set to greet the guest of honour. Although… perhaps you can help him with that.' Dr. Vindi turned to Durge for his thoughts but Durge just said that there was no point as he didn't wish to alert his Prey he was following it, as that was the best way to see it flee. What Prey? What guest of honour? Just then the screen above the Doctor's console showed Spartan-117 moving down the corridors and silently take out a squad of battle droid before any within the group could respond. A canine creature at the Spartans side moved just as fast, using its tail to throw the flimsy B-1 droids into the walls, breaking them, and biting the B-2's arms to disable their weapons before going for their legs and moving to the next droid. Once all droids were down it went back to finish the B-2's by biting off their heads.

'It seems your Prey is a predator itself.' The Doctor gave a shrill laugh. Durge just growled.

'Even predators can be Prey, that's why some are apex predators.' Durge left at that. The screen changed to a different view of another corridor with the Spartan and his animal was coming around the corner. He moved down it and came upon a door. There was a final camera change to show a large room with several tanks of blue liquid. The door opened to show the Spartan entering the room cautiously before the door closed quickly behind him and locked. He turn swiftly to the door and then to each of the other doors, as they too locked, until only one was left. The door opened and Durge stepped in before it closed and locked behind him.

* * *

Ahsoka POV

Master Skywalker had been pacing for sometime now, he only stopped due to us being on the Gunship but he started again as soon as we arrived in Theed's hangar. We were waiting to meet with the Queen and her Captain of Security. When they got here he didn't waste any time launching himself at them to find out what had happened to the Senator friend of his. Ever since he had been informed that a Spartan, John-117 specifically, had been sent to Naboo to investigate the droid patrol he had been on edge. When asked, he just brushed Master Kenobi and I off. I knew what that meant, he had got it into his head that _something terrible_ _was happening_ just because a Spartan was here. I getting tired of it to be quite honest.

Not just the unfounded dislike of the Spartans but the fact that as soon as one was involved with anything to do with him he saw it as a personal attack and lost all senses except a tunnel vision that focused solely on the nearby Spartan. This left him unable to see anything but what he wished to see. That and his constant attempts to tell me what I should and shouldn't be doing, like he was a shining example to follow, was really starting to get to me. Master Kenobi had summed it up well after the Gundark incident, Master Skywalker had a very Do as I Say Not as I Do approach to teaching.

I wouldn't mind if he was telling me what not to do when learning a new Force or lightsaber technique but we hadn't done _anything_ that would further my Jedi studies, he was just too focused on getting his adrenaline junky thrills in a time of **war** , when he wasn't busy brooding over the Spartans.

I would have put in a transfer to another Master, preferably Master Plo or Kenobi, but I didn't want to leave the 501st. Rex had taken me under his wing, almost, and was showing me what it meant to fight with honour, and why the Mandalorians were one of the greatest people to have ever graced the galaxy. They had fought against the Jedi and the Sith and won on multiple occasions, sure they had lost at times as well but they didn't use the force which put them at a disadvantage making their victories all the more impressive.

I hadn't had much of a chance to implement much of what Rex had taught me about combat into the field as he mostly focused on blaster techniques or strategy and there hadn't been much of a chance for me to show myself in either aspect, either by not needing the blaster or because Master Skywalker didn't let me prove myself in the field and always took over my briefings to do his own reckless plan.

He was always leaving the rest of us behind. At the beginning I would have chased after him, like I did at the Monastery when we were looking for Jabba's son, but now I stuck close to the rest of the troopers. I tried to give Rex as much room as he needed to lead the men in the absence of his General but on some of the easier missions he took a step back at let me take the helm, only stepping in if he felt I needed some help or that a different decision should be made. He was always gentle when taking over, either reminding me of something I missed or by suggesting an alternative that proved to be the better option, rather than just telling me what I should do but actually letting me choose between his plan and mine.

I prefered him to Master Skywalker and felt that he was my real teacher in all of this not my actual Master. He taught me things that I wanted to learn as well as things I needed to know and had found a balance with teaching me them that I was very happy with.

I had missed the action on Orto Plutonia as Master Skywalker wanted to get away from me for a bit, leaving me with Admiral Yularen, and after hearing what happened I made sure to get my act together and, in the words of Rex, put aside my emotions to work with someone I didn't like for the good of the mission. Yeah, he was all cool and wise like that, Rex was the best. I was **not** being left behind again.

Thanks to my closeness with the Captain I had gotten close to several of the other troopers, and liked to think that I had the respect of all members of the 501st but I wasn't sure. Hevy was one of the ones I was closest too, but then he had an air about him that just put a smile on your face, his bouts of borderline mutinous talk was met with a fond exasperated smile, not reprimand. Even Rex had gotten close to him and, with Master Skywalker increasingly absent from his men, Hevy was quickly becoming Rex's second.

It was weird he didn't have one already but when I asked Rex he said that his original second, Appo, had died when testing something back on Kamino, about a year before the war broke out. I left it at that. The two also had a little catchphrase thingy. Hevy would be joking and Rex would be giving back just as good, just a bit of banter between friends, before Rex would tell the trooper that, well, play time's over. He did this in a little thing with Hevy where he would say Hevys name before telling him to _shut the fuck up_. It was a little in joke between the pair that everyone knew meant it was time to get serious, but no one else used it, not even me.

The one time another trooper told Hevy to _shut the fuck up_ he didn't take it well. It was said as a joke but Hevy still got really mad and was ranting at the poor guy before finally stopping, we all learnt not to mess with their little thing after that.

Master Skywalker had taken off again without a word to anyone, taking one of the Nubian Starfighter without even asking, just taking off. Master Kenobi and I followed Captain Typho to a holotable with a droid head on it. The Captain explained that looking at the droid's memory banks had revealed a new development, he played the recording and a conversation between a long necked scientist and a massive armoured warrior took place. It was about the scientist being annoyed that progress on his Blue Shadow Virus was to be halted but the armoured warrior, called Durge by the scientist, explained that if they didn't deal with the Spartan then he wouldn't get to continue it at all. They had found out that John was being sent to investigate and must have set up a trap for him.

The Captain then went on to show us a scan of the lab and Master Kenobi started thinking of a plan of attack. We need to stop the facility before they managed to find a way to distribute the virus, their next stage of development, but we also needed to be careful because any trap set for a Spartan would be deadly for anyone.

Master Kenobi decided on a three pronged assault. A bunker bomb was to be dropped on the production centre, to halt development of a deployment method, before Master Kenobi, Rex and I would each lead an assault on one of the three entrances identified during the scan. Our objective would be to find and dispose of the virus with secondary objectives of finding and helping Senator Amidala, Spartan-117 and Master Skywalker. Tertiary objectives were to find and eliminate Durge and the scientist, since identified as Dr. Vindi.

Rex arrived promptly with 3 Gunships and we took off after Master Skywalker towards the facility.

This is where the fun begins.


	16. Chapter 16

John POV

The figure just stood across from me, not moving. Whip was growling at my side but I didn't fire. My SMG didn't pack enough power to get through that armour so I was just waiting for my opponent to make the first move.

'I am Durge, the Scourge of Mandalore, and the Greatest Hunter in the galaxy. It has been some time since I last faced a Spartan, let us hope you live up to your ancestors standards.' He withdrew a Vibroblade so I holstered my SMG and drew my Spartan Saber, it would take some time to punch my through that armour ai nd I preferred to have a blade in hand when engaging in melee anyway.

He rushed me, not as fast as another Spartan but close enough to offer a good challenge. I blocked his strike with the single blade variant of the saber, best to see what he can do before bringing out the big guns. It seems that his real strength was, well, strength. The force with he exerted on just pushing down with the Vibroblade was incredible, I was starting to sink to my knees, though very slowly. I angled my blade so the pressure would send his blade sliding off mine before spun to the side and slashed through his left side. I carved right through so at least he wasn't wearing Beskar or a similarly lightsaber resistant metal.

He swung back at me quickly but was lacking any real technique so I just took a step back and let it pass me before lunging forward and stabbing my opponent in the general lung area for all sentient life. I then yanked the blade to the side and Durge roared in pain. He grabbed me before I could retreat and threw me into a wall. I slumped to the floor and used my position to perform a forward roll under his next wild swing. I got to my feet and let loose a quick flurry of strikes that Durge barely held off, leaving various shallow cuts across his body. I had to give him credit, even injured he still put up a valiant effort.

I soon saw an opening and performed twin Cho Mai strikes to remove his hands and then followed with Cho Sun and Cho Mok strikes to remove his right arm then right leg, Cho Sun was the act of removing a weapon arm but was generally meant to refer to chopping off an arm, even if it wasn't an arm currently holding a weapon. Cho Mok was dismemberment and maiming strikes with specific emphasis on legs.

I deactivated my blade and turned towards the door opposite the one I came in from, it was as good as any to go through. A slight wisp of moving air could be heard so I tilted my head to the side and Durges fist sailed past my ear attached to some tentacle like things. I spun quickly, igniting my blade, and sliced upwards cutting off the tentacles. The tentacle withdrew slowly and I notice something creeping out from his right stumps and reconnecting his dismembered arm to the rest of his body with ease.

'You truly are a credit to the Spartans of old, but in the end you are still Mandalorian and I will exterminate all of your pathetic people.' I will _not_ let that happen. The Spartans are the chosen protectors of Mandalore. It is our duty to protect all the Children of Mandalore, even from another Mandalorian like him.

He had been Mandalorian without a doubt. There was an extensive amount of Mandalorian training in his sword style, though it all basic, lacking any real substance. He had to have been trained by a Mandalorian, but it must have been an old as some of his moves had fallen out of practice centuries, even millennia, ago. And for good reason. We had long developed counters or superior techniques that rendered most of Durges moves ineffective or useless. And so he had been Mandalorian trained, making him Mandalorain, but more then that, his comments made him Dar'Manda.

Durge wasn't just Dar'Manda, he was an aruetii, a traitor. And he also wasn't leaving here alive.

'No. You won't. Here's why you can't exterminate us, aruetii. We're not huddled in one place, we span the galaxy. We need no lords or leaders, so you can't destroy our command. We can live without technology, so we can fight with our bare hands. We have no species or bloodline, so we can rebuild our ranks with others who want to join us. We're more than just a people or an army, aruetii. We're a culture. We're an idea. And you can't kill ideas, but we can certainly kill you. And if you even try, all of Sparta will rise against you.' He just let a laugh out at that.

'We shall see.' The tentacles from his left, and now only, stump flew at me so I dodged to my left. The tentacles reattached to his arm and drew it back. Just then a fine blue mist started to pour in from the ventilation.

'It seems the good doctor is tired of waiting. This virus will surely kill you and then, once it has been used across the galaxy, there will be no one left for the Mandalorians to recruited from and your people will, finally, fall.' My helmet filtered most of the gas and the rest was handled by my augmentations but Whip had no such protection. Just then an explosion shuck the facility followed swiftly by two more. I used the distraction to palm a grenade and to switch the blade to its Spartan Saber variant. I rushed Durge and started hacking at him more and more, throwing a few punches to dent his armour as well. Once I had cut a big enough hole in Durges armour I punched into his body and primed the grenade before withdrawing me hand. The virus must have been affecting him as his regeneration was significantly slower. I rushed to the door as he exploded all over the rooms and thrust my blade, now in single blade variant, into the door and started cutting my way out. I kicked the metal through and picked up Whip, carrying him through the opening, and lifting the metal back into place. I used my saber to seal the opening to stop any more of the virus from getting out and picked up Whip before sprinting down the corridors back towards the hatch. As I was running I contacted Cortana.

'Cortana. Cortana pick up.' The comms buzzed to life and Cortana sounded stressed.

'What is it John, we are kind of busy here.'

'I need to talk to Halsey.' The tone of my voice must have set her on edge.

'John? Whats…' I cut her off.

'Please.' I was all but begging now but I needed Halsey, she was the only one who could save Whip.

'I'll put you through.' Halsey came on seconds later.

'John.' Straight to the point. I explained the situation and described what I knew about the virus and Whips symptoms, she seemed to recognise it and assured me that there was a cure and that she would sent Red Team immediately. I thanked her and cut the comms. As I was running the sounds of blaster fire was growing louder and louder. I ran across Captain Rex and his men.

'Thank Gods you're here sir. We could really use the help.' I told him that I needed to get Whip out first. The Captain took one look at Whip and called over one of his troopers, a member called Kix. He told Kix to take Whip to the Gunship and take him back to Theeds. When Kix asked how the rest would get back I told him we would evac via Pelican. Concerns reassured, he took Whip back towards the hatch and the Gunship. I told the Captain that they had made an aerosolized version of the virus and we needed to find and dispose of it before we left the laboratory. He said said they knew the general location of the storage facilities and started to lead the way. I then helped Rex and his men push towards the virus storage centre. We extracted all of the aerosolized virus before rigging bombs in the storage facility and moved on to the production centre. We met up with Commander Tano after rigging the production centre as well.

* * *

Obi-wan POV

Ahsoka was leading one of the assaults and I left Rex to lead the last, he was a very good commander that man, and his men held great respect for him. I just wish Anakin would control himself better. If he hadn't rushed off he could lead the assault himself and help repair his standing with his men. More and more complaints had been coming in about his behaviour in the field, something that was becoming more frequent as he kept running off on his own and left his men behind behind, and his running after Padme would only exasperate this.

I suspected there was something going on between him and Padme but I didn't wish to pry, letting him come to me if he needed to as a sign of my trust in him. Now, after my time with Satine I wasn't one to judge his relationship but Anakin's almost possessive behavior can't be good for either of them, especially if it meant Anakin rushed in without even taking the time to find out everything he need to know before making a rescue attempt, like where she was for example. It was amazing he had even found the place but I guess I was underestimating his stubbornness again.

While I am glad Ahsoka was more even tempered, and thought things through more than her Master, that came with its own set of problems. The two were growing further and further apart. I had reported my concerns to the council but they advised patience, after all, didn't I go through a similar rough patch with Anakin around the same age. Yes but we already had a solid relationship beforehand not near the start of our time together. The pair did have a good start but it had quickly soured. I decided to trust the council's judgement for now but I may have to step in if gets worse.

I was steadily making my way through the facility and dealing with the droids as I go.

Anakin's troubles were only starting there. While he was losing the respect and trust of his men and his Padawan the Council had become increasingly concerned with his growing body count, both of his men and his enemies. The Jedi council had several members on the Military High Council, one of them being me, and so we had access to mission records and while Anakin's personal record was shining, in that he had a high mission completion rate and high enemy kill count, the 501st as a whole was straining and some had filed reports on their concerns with Anakin's tactics and apparent lack of concern for their safety. One of these even came from Admiral Yularen who said that Anakin's reckless tactics put everyone at risk and they only worked when luck was on his side, something that seemed to be running out as of late. This lack of compassion and thrill for battle was a concern but it wasn't bringing up any red flags at the moment, Mace loved a good fight himself and turned that thrill for battle into Vaapad and Quinlan wasn't exactly a shining example either, but it was beginning to look like it could become something more serious which is why I was so invested in Anakin reconnecting with his men and Ahsoka. He didn't need to isolate himself any more.

My troops and I were heading to the command centre at the heart of the facility. There seemed to be a significant lack of droids along the way and upon reaching the command centre I knew why. Apart from a few droids there was no one here. I moved to the security console and started to change between the different cameras.

Ahsoka's group was experiencing far higher levels of resistance, my droids moving to her, but she was holding herself well despite her stagnant blade work. Master Yoda had praised her for her skill in the Jedi arts and I knew she was dedicated to her studies, constantly asking me questions, but I kept sending her back to Anakin to find out the answers, her Master should be teaching her not me. She stopped coming back to me and I had hoped it was because Anakin had started to teach her, was I wrong?

She didn't look like she had improved much in her time under his teachings, which shouldn't be the case, especially with a talented student and a war where said student will need to know everything she could to survive. Wait, was that a blaster? She was using it with a surprising level of skill. Rex, he must have been teaching her. The two were close so it made sense. But if she had learned to wield a blaster with such precision in only a few months then why had her blade work stagnated.

I would need to bring this up with the council. I switched cameras again.

Rex was joined by the Master Chief and seemed to be making amazing progress towards the storage facility. Another camera change showed the torso of some poor creature in a room filled with a fine gas. The unfortunate being must have been used to test a aerosolized form of the virus. One last camera changed showed Anakin confronting Dr. Vindi. What the hell was he doing? He dropped his lightsaber and his troopers were dropping their weapons.

I knew it. He was putting the mission at risk due to personal feelings. I had never felt more disappointed in him. He knew what was at stake and he was willing to sacrifice this whole planet to save one person. I may have been willing to allow Naboo to become infected as well but that was to save the rest of the galaxy from this plague. Anakin's decision would help no one, not even Padme as she would be infected too. One of the troopers decided to disobey Anakins order to lower their weapons and killed the doctor. While I wasn't pleased for him disobeying Anakin I had given standing orders to eliminate the doctor so, I suppose he had made the right decision.

Anakin's stare off with the trooper was also of concern. There was nothing I could do, the council needed to know. My heart had never felt so heavy. I'm sorry Qui-gon. I failed you. Let us hope Anakin's recent lapses in judgement can be rectified otherwise Ahsoka will have to be removed from his care and that may only make him worse. But this was no longer just about him and I wasn't about to condemn Ahsoka just to please Anakin, he had made his choice.

* * *

Ahsoka POV

It was a nice change to have a Master who placed some trust in me. I know there wasn't really another option but for Master Kenobi to give me command for one of the prongs of this assault but the fact that he wasn't constantly micromanaging me was a massive change, and it felt amazing. I seemed to have gotten the most of the droids as my group was the only one without having made any significant ground, but we were heading for the production centre and we had already suspected it would have the largest concentration of troops, another sign of Master Kenobi's trust in me.

More and more droids were coming and the corridor was filling up quickly, I had no time for this. I pulled out my pistol and used my lightsaber, in a reverse grip, to deflect blaster bolts back at them and took aim at the droids. I made sure to preference the heads of super battle droids but did shoot at some of the regular B-1's as well. I cut up any of the droids that got too close but was making sure to stick close to the troopers, to give them a bit of cover with my lightsaber as there was none in the corridor.

I was slowly ordering my troops backwards and to take cover at the corners of the hallways. We had been taking down a fair few droids once we got into cover but the droids had finally wised up and sent some to flank us from the adjoining hallways. I left my position at the front to take care of one flank while Echo took the initiative and called for some troopers to follow him. They charged down to the other corridor and took up positions at those corners to hold the flanks. Some of the troopers came to cover this flank and allowed me to returned to the main assault. We had become pinned into this corridor but, with all ways into it covered, we were holding well.

Once their flanking failed it seems the droids had called in the Droidekas and I had no time to take aim at anything else as I was so focused on blocking their fire. Thanks to the Droidekas, the droids were starting to make steady progress towards us. I was so focused on them that I was shocked when an armoured fist burst through the back of the lead Droideka. The Master Chief then proceeded to rip apart the other two Droidekas in rapid succession.

It seems he and Rex had rigged the storage facility and the production centre to blow and where now rounding everyone up to evac. Rex commed Master Kenobi to tell him the news.

'Good work Captain. It's time to get out of here.'

'What about General Skywalker sir?' Even after everything Rex looked after everyone he could, never leaving a man behind.

'I'll get him, you just get out of here.' We moved everyone we could carry and made it back to the hatch before using the rappel cables to get ourselves out. We loaded the wounded first then fit everyone we could onto the rest of the Gunships, leaving one for Master Kenobi. Any that couldn't fit on the Gunships were going to take the Pelican back to Theeds. Rex stayed behind to wait for Masters Kenobi and Skywalker along with the detonator, so he could blow it when they got clear. It wasn't long before we had all made it back, with Rex and the Masters not to far behind.

* * *

Anakin POV

I had been wondering the hallways for awhile now and still hadn't found the command centre or Padme. It felt like I was going in circles. It didn't help that I spent a lot of my time searching for this damned place as didn't stick around long enough to find out where it was, a mistake in hindsight but Padme was in trouble and I didn't have time to wait. I only found it as I was ambushed by droids that rose from the mud. I cut my way in after that and so, here we are.

I was just about to enter another room when the laboratory shook, I needed to hurry. I started running even faster down the hallways before two more blasts sounded off. I took a second to centre myself. My sensory capabilities weren't as good as Master Kenobi's but I need to find Padme _now_ , I got her. After pausing to take a second I could finally sense her and so I started making my way in Padme's direction. As I was moving down the corridors I encountered Captain Rex and his men rappelling into the lab from a Gunship.

'Captain Rex, I need some of your men to follow me.' Rex nodded and called for Hevys squad to follow men. It was a small squad of 5 strong but Hevy had proven himself to be a capable commander and a good soldier, a welcome addition to the 501st. I took off in Padme's direction again, trusting Hevy to keep up. I took off as fast as I could in Padmes direction. It seems I lost Hevy along the way, he was supposed to keep up. I reached a sealed door and started to cut my way in when Hevy arrived, it was about time, didn't he realise Padme was in danger.

Once the hatch was opened I rushed inside only to find Padme being electrocuted.

'Padme!' This weird long necked FREAK warned me not to take another step or I would be risking Padme's health. My fists clenched audible at my side. My patience had been tested time and time again over these past few months, ESPECIALLY by _that_ Spartan. And now, not only is he here, on the planet where I married my wife, the place of my happiest memory, this disgusting **lowlife** dared to threaten me and Padme. He told us to lower our weapons but I just wanted to kill him. I wanted to kill him so bad but I dropped my lightsaber and ordered my men to lower their weapons, I couldn't risk Padme, never her. My eyes screwed up in fury and I could hear the clatter of the guns hitting the floor from my men.

My eyes burst open when a shot rang out. Padme.

She was fine so my eyes turned to the scientist who had a hole in his head that wasn't there before. I used the Force to flip the switch that was causing Padme's electrocution and to call my saber to hand. I made short work of the remaining droids with some help from the clone with the blaster. Once I finished the last of the droids I turned to see which clone would dare, would **DARE** , to not only disobey me but to endanger Padme too. _Hevy_. Of course.

Hevy had always been running his mouth and I knew he talked about me when I couldn't hear him. Everyone else laughed at him, thinking he was just joking, but I knew the truth, he resented me and my success. Several of the clones had expressed concern over my tactics, Yularen too, but so what. They worked didn't they. I mean, sure there was more than a few deaths that could have been averted if I stayed with the clones but by going on ahead I finished the fight faster and wasn't that for the best. Besides if they just followed orders better than there wouldn't be a problem.

But Hevy had always taken exception to my success and his own inability to just follow _orders_. I know he talked about me behind my back and had all the others laughing at me too. I just stared at him, not even checking on Padme, trying to convey how much I _loathed_ him through eye contact. But Hevy didn't even flinch, just stared right back. Then he had the nerve to lower his gun. I meant _before_ shooting and risking Padme's life. All he said was _Generals orders_ , I don't care what Obi-Wan had said, he was to follow **my** orders, and runs back down the corridor to Rex and the Master Chief.

It explained so much. Ever since Rex first worked with the Master Chief he had become resentful of me. The Spartan must have poisoned him against me. And with Rex and Hevy becoming closer that poison must have spread to him too. It all made sense, Rex was trying to undermine my authority because the Master Chief had turned him against me. He used Hevy to spread dissent through the ranks and was even turning my own Padawan against me. I know they were still training together I just hadn't caught them again.

Oh sure, Rex liked to talk about how he respected and listened to me but after Hevys blatantly disobeying of my orders I knew the truth, Rex was just more patient than Hevy. I turned to check on Padme. They thought they were so smart but now I knew the truth I would be on the lookout for their little coup. It was coming, I know it, and that damn _Spartan_ was at the centre of it all. I wouldn't be surprised if he was doing this just as a petty bit of revenge because I surpassed him, finally, after 2 years of hard training and because I knew how weak his people really where after being forced to study them by the council. While I wouldn't be surprised if that was the reason, it made more sense that he had seen the reputation **I** built for the 501st and wanted to take command for himself. I knew their game and now, I could prepare.

I helped Padme to her feet and left for one of the hatches, lets see how they do without me, then they'll come crawling back. Just. You. Watch.


	17. Chapter 17

Jerome POV

Iego, the world of a thousand moons. I don't know if these bits of rock could count as moons but the name had a nice ring to it. Isabel was being careful to avoid the debris but we didn't have any trouble with her skill. We were looking for a type of root that was supposed to help cure a virus that John encountered on Naboo. He was fine but Whip wasn't, it was a rough first mission but he'd have more to make up for it, I would make sure of that personally. Whip was a favourite with the Spartans, either for his combat potential or just because he was such an excitable creature and was always trying to play with the Spartans, none of us wanted anything bad to happen to him.

Isabel was bringing us into land when she called me to the cockpit. Iego may have been in the heart of Separatist space but this wasn't the welcoming I was expecting. For one the droids weren't shooting and two they didn't look right. Some had been scraped together, some had their heads on backwards and they had firefighter droids mixed into the main force. If this was a defence force it was a poor one.

When we exited the ship the droids just kept welcoming us over and over. They may appear friendly but they could turn at any moment.

'Well, well, well. I can't say I ever expected to see a Spartan. I thought you guys were a myth.' A young boy was walking through the droids. He introduced himself as Jaybo Hood. Curious, I asked if he was a Mandalorian. He complimented me on my knowledge on the different clans and said that he was. I asked if he could help us locate the root we were looking for and he said he could but it wouldn't matter in the end as there was no way off the planet. I pointed out we brought our own ship but he just laughed and explained that something was stopping ships from leaving the planet, he called it a ghost.

Now, I may believe in Gods but ghost are a bit of a stretch. Our spirits go to the Gods after death, they don't stick around here. I told him to take it one step at a time and show us where we could find the root.

He escorted Isabel and I through the city until he took us out of it and onto the cliffs the city was built upon. The city was like a ghost town only it was filled with people. They were all starving and down trodden. Iego had a harsh climate that made food imports very important as they could only grow so much themselves, with this ghost thing no ships could leave and people were starting to realise and stop coming. We eventually came to a cliff with vines climbing down them and Jaybo told us that the root was at the bottom of the vines but to be careful not to touch them as the vines bite. I just nodded.

'So, how are we getting down?' Isabel was peering over the edge. It looked a bit tricky to get down as there were more steep outcrops of rock than hand hold, it would be an easier climb back up than down.

'You. You hold on.' I grabbed her hand and took a few steps back before running forward.

'Wait, what? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Whaaaaahahaha.' I jumped off the side of the cliff, dragging her with me. Her screams soon turned into joyous laughter that filled the air.

We angled our bodies before hitting the ground, making sure to avoid the roots and vines. We landed with a heavy thump and a dust cloud rose up. It cleared quickly and we got to work uncovering a root and quickly took some samples. John may have burned all trace of the liquid version of the virus, destroying it, but had recovered tens of vials of an airborne variant so we took several samples in case Halsey needed them to dispose of it. After w were done we put on our Vornskr claws and started to make our ascent back to Jaybo.

'You guys, are Crazy. With a capital C.' I pulled Is up and turned to Jaybo.

'Now, let's work on getting off this planet.' We headed back to the city and then to the landing the way Jaybo filled us in on the legend of Drawl. It appears a _ghost_ had been destroying any ship attempting to leave. The ghost was said to have been awakened by the revolt that took place on the planet. A Munn was left in charge by the Separatists and had started to abuse his power so the citizens rose up in revolt. The Separatists abandoned the system so quickly they only took the essentials, money, ammo, expensive droids everything else was left behind. Jaybo then went on to explain how his parents were one of the first to brave Drawl and had perished in the attempt. He warned us again we would never make it.

'Of course we will. Spartans never die.' A small flicker of hope had entered his eye at that and I would do everything to make sure his trust in us was well placed.

After getting everything set on the Pelican, setting up a commline to Jaybo, Isabel took us into orbit and stated to navigate the debris field. It was fairly peaceful till we passed the first _moon_.

Just then the sensors flared and Is banked hard left, narrowly missing a beam of yellow energy. The field lit up as beam after beam crossed our vision. Is barrelled to the right before performing a tuck and roll to avoid two more streams. Sharp turns and hard banking maneuvers were becoming more and more frequent as the beams constantly changed where they were heading.

'Is, take us back.' She pulled up hard before spinning to right ourselves. As soon as we started flying back the field disappeared, just as I suspected. I told here to slow down and stop by one of the nearby _moons_. It was a little rock but it would be more than adequate. I moved to the hold and ordered Is to seal all doors before opening the bay doors. Attaching one of the rappel cables, that were by the sides of the bay door, I pushed off from the ship. I grabbed hold of the rock and made to examine the devices on the rocks.

It looked to be a relatively simple design, consisting of an energy rod that would attract energy directed at it and then pass it along to the next target. There was a minor tracking beacon to alert the other nodes where the next nearest nodes was and if it was in position to receive the signal. Due to the constant motions of the rocks the field was ever changing making it impossible to map. I took my time to look for the energy emitter and spotted a large dish on one of the bigger, actual, moons that seemed to fit the bill, nothing else looked remotely close. With my assessment over I reeled in the cable and Is closed the hatch and took us back to Iego, I had an idea.

Upon landing Jaybo offered his condolences but reiterated that no one left. I just asked how many Vulture droids he had. He looked confused but answered promptly, saying he didn't know, so I asked to see the warehouse he found all the droids in. I spent the next hour and a half taking a full inventory of the droid forces here. There was about 2 battalions of droids but they were in no way combat capable and most would have to be cannibalised to fix the rest, as Jaybo had already been doing, but that was no loss. The real prize was the 3 squadrons of Vulture droids and the 2 Tactical droids. I asked if Jaybo could fly the Vulture droids using the processing power of the Tactical droids and he said yes. I asked him to program them to fly in a V-shaped attack formation and to make sure that they never left that formation.

'Why? It's not like they have any rounds to fire, the Separatists took that with them.' I shook my head.

'The Vulture droids didn't need rounds because they will be the rounds.' Isabel caught onto my idea quickly.

'Mass Accelerator Rounds, but there's been no proof of concept, it's still just a theory.' I shook my head.

'The Mass Accelerator Cannons are still theory based, no one's made a device capable of sending several tones of metal at speeds needed to make a MAC Round but if Military History has taught me anything it's that Kamikazes are capable of destroying things several times their size if they are flying fast enough.' I wanted to send the Vulture droids flying into the Emitter and destroy it, in a sort of mock MAC Round style.

Isabel would fly with a tracker on the back of the Pelican for the droids to follow and help them avoid the beams. The Tactical droid's head would ensure that this amount of droids would keep their formation. Jaybo would then need to give the head a new command, once we were in position, for the droids to accelerate to full speed and smash into the Emitter. Jaybo and Isabel got to work quickly and within the next 2 hours we were ready.

Isabel took off and the squadrons took after her, keeping close, their close proximity should allow them to dodge the same beams Isabel was flying around before the beams changed, reducing losses.

It looked to be even harder this time due to the higher density of _moons_ leading towards the larger moon. Jaybo was reporting in our droid losses, 2 fighters from squadrons 1 and 3 but 4 from squadron 2, with 5 droids to a fighter squadron that was just over half of them. We were just coming out of the last set of beams and finally had a straight shot to the Emitter. Once Jaybo received the signal the fighters rocketed off and Is pulled us out of their. 1 more Vulture was lost to a beam before the rest slammed into the Emitter destroying it. The overload was transmitted to every node in the system and a set of chain explosion went off, with us right in the centre.

* * *

Jaybo POV

Explosions of light rippled across the sky. They did it, they actually did. A crowd was starting to form after Drawl appeared in the skies once again, but now, they were cheering as little dots of light flashed and disappeared all along the skyline. I tried to comm the Spartans but I just got static. I tried again and again before it sputtered to life and the male Spartan said _good job kid_. I may have been a little bit smug after that. The Spartans were considered to be a myth by most due to them having never seen them, only hearing the stories.

People said they were just Republic propaganda and others said they were Mandalore's of old, come again in protest of the New Mandalorian government and that they had come to wage war across the galaxy to remind our people of their true ways. Whatever they were they got me to believe in my people once again, something I lost when my parents died.

As I was growing up my parents had stated over and over again how the Mandalorians were the best in the galaxy. They said that before they went off to fight Drawl, that Mandalorians are the best and it would be a Mando who would defeat him. I guess they were right. Just not in the way I had hoped.

After thanking me for my help the Spartan introduced himself as Jerome and his partner was called Isabel. He then said maybe I should think about heading to Mandalore 'cause they could use a kid like me. I dunno, after this I was just so full of ideas on what to make and what to do. I could make a missile defence grid that used sensors to aim ship cannons to shoot down missiles; I could design a whole wing of automated fighters that were meant to support or be controlled by a living pilot. The best idea I had, and perhaps the most challenging, as it would be a first, was to design and create the galaxies first true MAC gun. Yeah that was what I was going to do, and I was going to do it on Mandalore.

* * *

Jerome POV

After Isabel and I said our goodbyes to the kid I called Halsey to tell her we had the root and some spares on the side. She congratulated me but said we weren't to head to Naboo but to go to Ryloth. It seems John decided to become a tag along. He said it was so we didn't have as long a trip to make, and while that was certainly part of it, John's Hero complex must be kicking into over time. Halsey said we are to go and deliver the root while we wait on Ryloth for new orders. I told Is to set a course for Ryloth, it seems we had some catching up to do.

* * *

John POV

After everyone had gotten back to Theed I went to check on Whip. The medics told me that Whip was in quarantine at the moment, just as a precaution but that virus shouldn't be transmittable via his exhaling of air, which was always a plus. After giving him a quick check which sent his tail whipping around the med bay, knocking things over and breaking them, I was ushered out by some irate medical staff. General Kenobi commed me and said that they needed me for a debriefing in the Queen's conference room.

Masters Windu and Yoda, Dr. Halsey and Chancellor Palpatine are all waiting for me to get there and join Generals Kenobi and +Skywalker and Commander Tano. After a round of greeting I started to tell them how, after my arrival, I had worked with the Queen and her people to find out about the droid forces and stumbled onto information about the virus. We had then narrowed down the location of the facility but it was thanks to Representative Binks that we had then managed to narrow it down into a searchable area.

I then went on to recount my encounter with the HK assassin droids in the hangar. I made special note of how they used different tactics, long range and short range, and how I didn't know if the droids were capable of changing styles or if they were programmed with a set specialisation. It appears, from the looks around the room, that I was the only one who knew about the HK droids and Senator Amidala's close call.

I moved onto finding the facility and Whips exemplary performance in disposing of the droids by first disabling them and then destroying them. His first mission had exceed expectations and was deserving of praise, Halsey had a small fond smile on her face when i mentioned this but I couldn't understand why. I moved onto my encounter with Durge and the discovery of the aerosolized virus.

Next was my meeting with Captain Rex and how we rigged the storage facility and removed all airborne variants of the virus for disposal before moving to the production centre. We used some of the chemicals to create a makeshift phosphorus bomb that would burn hot enough to kill the virus and evaporate the liquid.

While in the storage facility I remembered about the virus in the room I fought Durge. We quickly worked to reverse the filtration system, with help from Master Kenobi in the control room, to suck the virus back into its vial. We then doubled back meeting up with Commander Tano, who had set up a valiant defensive formation. She looked to blush at the praise.

Why? Her use of the corridor to her advantage and her calm command of her troops was in keeping with what was expected of a good commander in the military.

Evac had been initiated by General Kenobi and we had all left promptly, some arriving back via Pelican. I also made sure to note Captain Rex's concern for his General and his bravery in staying behind to detonate the bombs after making sure of proper evac for the Generals.

The others then made their reports in turn of seniority, Kenobi, Skywalker then Tano. After the debrief had finished the Chancellor made his announcement that the 501st and 212th were being redirected to assist in the liberation of Ryloth. The Separatists had successfully set up a blockade which had cut General Windu from all support and they were being sent to break the blockade. Master Kenobi made the recommendation that Commander Tano take command of breaking the siege and the Chancellor turned to General Windu, it would be him that was most affected by this decision.

He agree that it was past time she took command of a major offensive and this one was as good as any. The Chancellor then appointed General Skywalker as the leader of the ground assault, giving him seniority over both Kenobi and Windu. He said this was because General Windu's tactics weren't working and that General Skywalker was known for his out of the box thinking, which he hoped might turn the tide of the Ryloth conflict. His decision was reluctantly accepted by all but Skywalker, who was preening under the Chancellor's confidence.

Finally Dr. Halsey spoke to tell me that Red team had landed on Iego and would have the antidote soon and I could wait with Whip on Naboo. I said it would be faster if I went to Ryloth as well.

That caused a stir. Dr. Halsey asked if I was really willing to risk Whip on a group of star destroyers that could very well fail at breaking through the blockade and be destroyed, killing Whip in the process. I simply stated that I had full confidence in Commander Tano, who had shown a high level of military competence and had Captain Rex's full backing, who also had my confidence. The Chancellor commented that he hadn't heard of higher praise from a Spartan and that he had full confidence in our successful liberation of Ryloth.

The briefing ended their and Skywalker quickly fled with General Kenobi following calmly soon after. I made to leave, Rex should be around somewhere and I would like to hear more about the 501st before we are deployed together.

'Thank you.' I turned to Commander Tano.

'For what?' I didn't do anything worth thanking. If she meant for placing my confidence in her abilities I didn't do it lightly or without reason, nothing to be thankful for as I was only speaking the truth.

'For what you said to the Director. It meant a lot.' I just nodded and said.

'I would not have said it if it wasn't true.' A smile split her face and she ran out after that. Now I guess it was time to find Rex.

* * *

Anakin POV

I knew it, I _knew it_. The Spartan was making sure that I would fail. When Ahsoka failed to break the siege I wouldn't have command over Obi-wan and Windu as their would be no offensive for me to take over. He was undermining my command, putting Ahsoka in charge of **my** fight. The Chancellor put his faith in me. Not Obi-wan, not Windu or Ahsoka and certainly not that damned _Spartan_.

No, no. This was perfect. Ahsoka wasn't ready, it was frankly ridiculous to think she was but then Obi-wan had always been an optimist and didn't know what Ahsoka was really capable of, what little capability their was it certainly wasn't enough to break the blockade. I mean, I had to keep on correcting her briefings just so that they would go right and she was just telling the men what MY orders were, who could possibly mess that up. Honestly.

The Spartan only backed her up because it meant that we wouldn't reach the surface and I couldn't then have the level of command I should have had from the beginning of the war. Sucks for him, because once Ahsoka inevitably fails then I will step in and clean up her mess with what's left of the fleet, showing everyone just how good I really am. This combined with bringing victory to the men at Ryloth will restore order to the 501st and Rex will start following me again and all will be well. The Master Chief can try all he wants but he will never succeed at besting me ever again. Once was more than enough.

The fact that he _saved_ Padme was just ridiculous. If something like that had happened then she would have told me. She would have been as disgusted by the mere thought as I was and told me so I could comfort her.

Maybe I should ask her just in case. No, that can be done tonight and it should prove to be a good way to get Padme to show how much she cares for me, _not him_ , in her very own _special_ way.

But that comes later, now I have to fix the other problems that the Spartan has created. The disobedience of **my clones**.

* * *

Hevy POV

He had made it a public affair, in front of the rest of the troopers. I had tried to explain myself, that by letting the Doctor live would have just resulted in us being hostages too and wouldn't help the Senator, I had even tried to say we had standing orders from Kenobi, but Skywalker wasn't having any of it.

He cut me off, saying that I would never disobey him ever again. Then he asked me if I _understand_. Who did this prick think he was? I was helping him, even if I didn't do it in the way he wanted, that didn't give him the right to fucking order me at all times. Never disobey him, who was this cocksucker? I was a Mandalorian and we don't follow orders we know are wrong. If he wanted a droid he should have become a Sepy. I bet he dreams about droids as well, bet he humps his R2 unit too.

He asked me again. Do I understand? Of course I understand you kriffing droid lover. My eyes flickered to Rex who just gave a slight nod. I said _I understand_ and he left saying to _make sure I do_.

I threw my helmet at the wall, he made me take it off so he could humiliate me to my face. I could hear the others whispering. _Brutal_ , _uncalled for_ , yeah, too kriffing right. Rex stood in front of me.

'I didn't do anything wrong.' Rex was trying to play peace maker again.

'You disobeyed orders.' Really Rex, really. You, of all people, the guy who told me we should never follow orders when we know they were wrong.

'Those order were wrong. They put other in needless danger.' He started again.

'I know that. But you made a decision and this is the result. That's the reality of command Hevy. You make a decision and have to accept the consequences of that decision, whatever they may be. A soldier follows orders but a commander makes a choice. A good soldier trusts in his commander and a good commander accepts the consequences of his choices.

'The first time I met you I knew you would make a good soldier but you had the makings of an even better commander. You made a choice back there and now you need to accept the consequences of that choice.'

'It's not right.' It was a poor defence in the face of Rex's words of wisdom but so what if I was feeling petty, Skywalkers dressing down hadn't left me in the best mood.

'It isn't but your choice was, just remember that. Besides, Skywalker has the ear of the Chancellor, be thankful you only got a talking too. Don't worry, things should calm down after Ryloth.' I guess he was right.

* * *

Anakin POV

Ahsoka chased me down and started going on about how I had been too harsh, that Hevy _didn't deserve to be humiliated like tha_ t. She was right, he deserved worse. He encourage the clones to disobey me and that can not be allowed and I told her as much.

'As for you. I know you've continued lessons with Rex. You having been disobeying me for too long and now you are forbidden from interacting with the clones without my presence, now go to your room.' Removing her from their influence was for the best. I would not let them turn her against me, this was for her own good.

'No.' What?! I was trying to help her, to protect her, and she would just reject me. Such blatant disobedience, had they gotten to her already?

'Go to your room.' She just stood there and crossed her arms. I am _trying_ to protect you.

'No.'

'I am **ordering** you to go. To. Your. Room.'

'I'm your Padawan, not your slave.' What? She just turned around and stalked off. What did she… I wasn't… What the HELL would she know about being a slave? She had been a Jedi all her life, she had no idea what it was like being a slave. Here I was trying to protect, making sure she was ready for the horrors of war, making sure she was safe from being manipulated by that damned Spartan who was trying to ruin my life.

Fine. If this was the thanks I got for taking her in, I didn't even _want_ to teach her and had only started too out of the goodness of my heart, then she could be the Spartans pawn for all I care.

Oh he thought he was so much better than me, after one fight 2 years ago when I was using a saber Form that I had only just started to learn. I would show him, **when** we fight again I will show him. Now it was time to see if he had caught Padme in his web of lies and deciate.

Apparently yes. He hurt her and she thought he was protecting her. He had pushed her to the ground so hard that her shoulder had bruised and she thought he had protected her. From what, Assassin droids? Please, if they were going to shoot anyone they would have gone for the Spartan, not Padme. He just pushed her and made it look like he saved her. Am I the only one who sees what's happening here or am I just the only one willing to do something about it? Even the Chancellor has expressed concerns with the Spartans, saying he only accepted their offer as it looked so harmless at the time and their skills were a valuable asset. He had asked that I try to get along with them more, that added tensions with the Spartans would only cause problems.

I **was** trying, I can be reasonable, it was the Spartans who were always lying and tricking people into doing what they wanted. Spartan-117 was undermining my command and that Spartan-104 lied about a Separatist super weapon, Rex and the others didn't talk about Maridun because they soon found out I was right about the Spartans and were to ashamed to admit it. I was trying to get along but they were determined to do anything but. The council was right to be weary of them.

'He's trying to turn them all against me, surely you can see that now?' After finding out about Padme's blindness to the Spartans I decide I needed to talk to someone who understood. So I called the Chancellor.

'Yes I do, but there is nothing to worry about Anakin. Even if he should succeed there are other options.' Sheev was a good friend, a good mentor, he was almost like a father to me.

'What do you mean?' He just waved it off.

'After Ryloth perhaps. You have expressed concerns with the disobedience and disloyalty of your men and that you needed something to prove that your men needed you, well now is your chance. I put you in command of the Ryloth offensive so that you can prove yourself, I just hope the Master Chief's presence does not cause problems for you.' He was such a good friend. He always listened, always tried to help me out. I told him that I was growing concerned with my mens loyalty towards me and their growing disobedience. They were just too independent to be soldiers, their Mandalorian influence to be sure.

'I just wish I could fight him, prove that last time was a fluke of luck. He caught he at a bad time, when I couldn't fight back, but things are different now. So what if he went up against Master Windu, I could take either of them, I know it.' Sheev just gave a chuckle.

'I have no doubts Anakin. I am just concerned you may be fighting a tougher battle then you need to.'

'What do you mean?' Sheev adopted a more teacherly stance. Normally I find lectures to be boring and dull but he had a way of just making it so much more interesting, it was like he could slip into my head and make me listen. I always enjoyed his lectures and stories.

'Well, you may be unaware but I have studied the Force quiet extensively, to a greater degree than the Jedi would ever allow even you, let me tell you, and with this studying comes knowledge on different techniques, Saber Forms and even unique Force abilities and traits, in people or in species. Now, from my understanding of the Spartans they are Force Resistant and Vaapad uses the darker side of the Force from both opponents.

'This means in the duel between Master Windu and Spartan-117, 117 wasn't fighting Windu at his best, that Master Windu could not call upon all Vaapad is capable of. He used much of it's abilities, to be sure, but he was facing an opponent that was uniquely suited to face him. Juyo and Vaapad are the superior lightsaber Forms but their main weakness is that, while the can overcome any other Form including Soresu, they are extremely vulnerable to Force techniques.' I know all this. But that just meant that his resistance made him invulnerable as his innate resistance covered the weakness of his style. I said as much to Sheev and he let out a chuckle.

I felt a bit embarrassed. He knew so much, more than enough to know what he was talking about and probably had a solution to the problem already, planning to answer my question in his explanation. He made me feel like a kid again, a kid who no one had any expectations of. A kid who could just do what he wanted, not what he was told to do. To be who he wanted not who he was told to be. I think that's why I liked him so much, he gave me freedom.

'There are ways around every defence. While they receive reduced effects from pure Force techniques, like Force Push. they are still affected by them.

'Now let me ask you this, do you know why Jedi aren't roasted every time they are hit with Force Lightning? No? The Force protects them instinctively. Now think about this. What happens if you use Force Lightning on a being who doesn't have the Force to protect themselves? They will burn.

'I know, I know Force Lightning is a dark side technique. Yet... Master Plo uses it, Master Windu also uses dark side abilities. You need to stop thinking about light and dark, Anakin, and start thinking about power.' A grin slowly spread across my face.

'And I can teach you everything you need to know about power. More than enough to defeat a Spartan.' Perfect.


	18. Chapter 18

John POV

We came out of hyperspace one system over from Ryloth. Commander Tano had spent the entire trip working on a plan to break the blockade and was going to present it to Generals Kenobi and Skywalker alongside myself and Admiral Yularen. I was on my way back from checking up on Whip in the infirmary, he wasn't doing too good but I was confident Jerome and Isabel would be back in time to help him. Halsey had assured me they were on their way.

Now we were out of hyperspace I went to join the meeting. Even though I wasn't a permanent member of either fleet I was still of high enough rank to be invited to strategy meetings and so the Commander extended an invitation out of courtesy. With nothing better to do I decided to accept.

The others were clustered around the holotable which showed Ryloth and 10 Munificent-class blockade frigate with 2 droid Lucrehulk-class control ships. The ships were split into two even groups on either side of the planet to provide full coverage of the planet. We had 8 ships in total, 2 Venator-class capital ships and 6 Acclamator-class assault ships. Upon my arrival General Kenobi gave Ahsoka a nod to begin her briefing.

She wanted to split the fleet into two groups. The forward battle group, designated Delta, would consist of 1 Venator and 4 Acclamator's and would jump into the system just outside firing range. Once in the system Delta would deploy all fighters which were then to fly in defensive patterns around the battle group. This should draw the closest half of the blockade into attacking, only one Separatist commander had shown himself to be patient enough to wait in defence during a blockade rather than overwhelm the attacking force and destroy it, and Trench was killed over Christophsis. If they didn't attack then Delta was to send in all fighter to draw the fire before moving to engage, if this was the case the rest of the fleet, designate Sigma, was to jump in at coordinates provided by Delta and flank the blockade group.

Now, as soon as Delta entered the system the other half of the blockade may move in to reinforce the engaging ships, this was unlikely to happen due to the Separatists not wishing to break the blockade after seeing us outnumbered but Commander Tano had prepared just in case. If they did move to engage we would have around 10 minutes to deal with the first group before reinforcements arrived.

Should Delta be successful in drawing in the blockade group they were to initiate full reverse thrust, leaving the bow of the ships to face the incoming ships. The reason was twofold, one was to put as much distance between the planet and the blockade group while also moving slow enough for Separatist forces to catch Delta and engage, also, with the majority of the guns on the sides of the ships facing the enemy head on should allow for a higher rate of fire. Two was to allow Sigma more room to maneuver when they jumped into the system. Once Delta had engaged the blockade Sigma was to jump to coordinates provided by Delta and attack the Separatists from the rear.

It was a sound plan for dealing with a numerically superior force. Break the enemy in two and fight two smaller battles where we had the advantage rather than a single, larger battle where we were at a disadvantage. Skywalker jumped in at this point, stating we could then us Sigma to take out the droid control ship which would reduce the fleets effectiveness by giving regular battle droids command of the ship's, meaning they would only use basic tactics.

'No.' It seems the Commander had a different idea.

She wanted Sigma to perform a broad sweep on the enemy's rear and target the engines of all their ships. If we did this fast enough we would have enough time to deal with the rest of the fleet. Commander Tano then said once the engines were disabled all ships, from both Delta and Sigma, were to concentrate fire on a single Munificent frigate before moving onto the next, then the next and the next, until all were destroyed before targeting the control ship. Her reasoning was that because they could no longer maneuver they wouldn't be capable of much in the way of tactics anyway so taking out the control ship, which had minimum weapons capabilities, was basically useless. By focusing on a single frigate we deprive them of ⅙ of their fire rate, then ⅕, then ¼ and so on and so on, reducing the damage done to our ships every time. Brilliant.

Once the first group was destroyed we should have enough time to get set for the reinforcements. Commander Tano then wanted all ships to line up straight, Venators at the centre, Acclamator's on the wings. The central 6 ships will then move to engage while the 2 on either wing will move to flank, moving behind the second group and attacking from there.

Skywalker then asked about what should be done if the droids can reinforce their ships in time. Commander Tano then stated that once the engines of the original blockade group are destroyed we leave the system. Skywalker then commented that our mission was to break the blockade and by leaving the system we would have failed to achieve that.

'No we wouldn't.' Everyone turned to me so I elaborated.

'By disabling half the blockade away from the planet they can't move back into position. This leaves the remaining 6 ships three options. One, return to their original position, letting us move in behind the disabled ships to land on the planet. Two, support the disabled ships, letting us move in from the other side of the planet and land. Three, they surround the planet with what ships can move and we take them out 1 at a time.' Commander Tano nodded, exactly. She then went on to state how once we offload the supplies and troops we can then either finish off the disabled ships and move onto the rest of the 6 ships or, if they were clustered as a single group, we could engage in various hit and run tactics.

If they spread across the planet then deal with them one at a time before deploying our troops then move to the disabled ships. Simple. Divide the enemy then overwhelm each half. If they managed to merge the groups then disable one, turning it from a help to a hindrance. Very well done.

'I must say Ahsoka, well done. I recognise some of these tactics but not where from.' This was from General Kenobi. He obviously knew where she got such tactics from, it was Mandalorian inspired and he had studied the Mandalorians by order of the Jedi council, if the reports were to be believed, he was actually asking her where she got the information.

'I studied all I could about Mandalorian history back at the Temple. Their history is full of battles and wars so I was able to piece together some of their tactics.' Impressive. These sorts of tactics were originally used by Mandalore the Ultimate, who used all sorts of Divide and Conquer tactics, but it was a main staple of, and perfected by, Mandalore the Destroyers strategy. She was absolutely ruthless and often wounded smaller groups of enemies and left them alive, so that they wouldn't be able to reinforce their allies and to see what their allies would do, before moving away to another position. If their allies came to help she would crush the relief forces, if they didn't she would execute her wounded enemies in front of their allies to break the resolve of those that were left.

The thing was, these were ground force tactics, infantry engages then tanks flank and decimate what remains, or speeder bikes in Mandalore the Destroyers case as she favoured the speed of the bike and the fact that they tended to leave more alive for later use. To turn it into a viable Naval strategy was a sign of great talent from the young Commander. General Skywalker turned to me.

'And what will you be doing in all of this?'

'I will be co-piloting the Pelican.' He seemed dismissive of me and my ability at piloting a craft. That was fine, I wouldn't be flying, just providing support.

'And who will be your pilot then huh? 'Cause it won't be one of my troopers that's for sure.' I just pulled Cortana's chip from the back of my helmet and plugged it into the main console. I sighed.

'Hey boy's… and girl.' She threw a wink at Commander Tano. Normally it would appear to be nothing more than a bit of playful fun but as Cortana decide to appear in her more provocative holoform, of skippy coding, it was far more flirtatious than it should have been. The opened mouths stares were present on everyone at the table but me, she had even caused some clones to stop and stare, one didn't even stop and carried on walking until he walked into a wall.

'Cortana…' It seems she wasn't done yet.

'I must say, when you try to impress you don't do it by half measures, do you Bubble Butt?' Cortana's devilish grin was out in full force and aim solely at the Commander, whose indignant scream did nothing to deter Cortana, in fact it seemed to encourage her. Cortana struck a pose where she jutted out her hip and rested her hand on it, letting the other hang by her side, before giving the Commander a slow look from top to bottom then back up.

'Hunny, if your gonna show it then don't blame me for taking a look. Especially when it starts demanding attention, bouncing with every step.' A scandalised blush spread across the Commander's face and she then threw her hands behind herself to cover her rear, even though Cortana was unable to actually move around to take a look. She looked very embarrassed so, with everyone else still gawping, it was left to me to step in and help the Commander escape from Cortana's clutches.

'Cortana…' It was short, sharp, and more importantly, it was listened to. Cortana's hologram flickered out of existence and before coming back to life facing me, luckily dressed in her ONI designed clone armour.

'Better?' Her tone held a subtle edge of sarcasm.

'It's a start.' I turned to the rest of the people at the table, time to get things back on track.

'Cortana will pilot the Pelican remotely while I provide support as co-pilot. If, for any reason, Cortana is unable to pilot the Pelican I will take control.' I wasn't one to sit around when there was work to be done and Cortana hadn't had much chance to test out her piloting skills, a talent we could use more often. While Cortana liked piloting larger ships, only through simulators at the moment but it was enough to leave her wistful, she was still an ace in a fighter or, in this case, a Gunship.

At that Commander Tano called for all hands on deck and for everyone to report to battle stations. Admiral Yularen had been given command over battlegroup Delta due to his knowledge of Naval Assault tactics. He was to draw in the enemy and then engage how he saw fit until Sigma, under Commander Tano's command, could jump into the Ryloth system and disable the ship's. Generals Kenobi and Skywalker were to join me and Cortana in fighters and to be part of the defensive formation. As soon as Commander Tano arrived on the Negotiator, Kenobi's flagship and the Venator assigned to Sigma, Admiral Yularen went into hyper speed to begin the attack.

As soon as we exited hyperspace all fighters launched and we waited for the Separatists to respond. After about two minutes the Separatists made to engage, it seems they took the bait. Sensors reported movement from the other side of the planet as well so the clock was ticking. Yularen ordered full reverse thrust to start moving the fleet further from the planet and the Separatists increased speed but they still weren't going at full speed. Their approach was too cautious, if they didn't increase speed soon their should arrive at the same time as their reinforcements. It seems that while the commander in charge of the blockade was overly aggressive enough to take the bait he was competent enough to wait until he had overwhelming force to either overpower us quickly or force us to flee.

After another 6 minutes the Separatists still hadn't entered optimal firing range and their reinforcements were coming at full speed. Yularen had to make a decision now and ordered for all fighter to begin attack runs and for the fleet to move at full speed to start the engagement. All fighters scrambled into attack formation. This sudden switch of tactics startled the Separatist commander who called for his fighters to launch but, as we had already been deployed, we had enough of an advantage to get the drop on them.

Yularen ordered bombers to target the hangers and for all fighters to provide cover, shooting down fighters that made to engage the bombers rather than to actively seek to engage in a dog fight. Cortana was making short work of any Vulture or Tri Droids targeting our ships, even going so far as to provide support to some of our struggling fighters who had a few tails here and there. I had control of the missile targeting system but the Pelican only had a small payload, 14 to be exact, so I had to time my shots perfectly and take care with my aim.

My first shot was intercepted by a Vulture meters from reaching the nearest frigate although it didn't seem to be intentional, having run into the missile rather than shooting it down. My next 3 made contact with the same ship but didn't do much as it's shields were still operational. Cortana was now drifting extremely close to the control ship in her attempts to destroy as many droids as she could before they could even attempt to target any of our fighter or bombers. Shot number 4 was dead on target and was able to bypass the enemies shielding to destroy one of the Lucrehulk's hangar bays.

Just then Sigma jumped into the system and started their attack. They made short work of the Munificent and Lucrehulk engines before moving on to destroying the frigates. We had only managed to destroy 2 Munificent frigates before Commander Tano called for a full retreat from the system, droid reinforcements having gotten close enough to start firing. All fighters without hyper speed capabilities were given priority landing clearance and, once they were aboard the Venators, we started to jump out of the system.

We jumped back into the same system we started our attack from and then recalled the last of the fighters. After landing I performed a diagnostic of the Pelican. No major systems were damaged but the lights had to be rerouted through their secondary systems as a lucky shot had hit the primary systems. Other than that, 4 missiles used and at least half of our Tibana gas, it seems Cortana got a little trigger happy in her excitement, everything was fine. I filed my report and sent it to the head engineer for him to sort and prioritise, some of the other fighters were in dire need of repairs so we may be one of the last they get around to.

I started to make my way to the bridge and found Yularen waiting for the rest of us to arrive. A hologram showed the condition of our fleet. Sigma was relatively untouched, as was to be expected, and Delta had no losses but the Resolute, Yularens Venator, had lead the charge and sustained heavy fire along with 2 Acclamator's. The Generals had landed on the Negotiator so we were waiting for the other 3 to comm us via the holotable. I complimented the Admirals quick thinking and action. If he hadn't started the engagement we may not have been able to disable any ships, let alone destroy two. He thanked me, looking happy for his efforts to be acknowledged, then the Holotable activated.

Yularen offered his congratulations to a beaming Commander Tano. She was at least humble in her acceptance of the praise, saying that while not perfect the results were very promising. She wanted to leave it for a few hours to allow the Separatists time to regroup and reposition before we sent scouts to assess the situation. In my opinion, the cautious nature of our opponent would result in them wanting to protect their disabled ships, so as to cover them while also protecting against a forward assault by having the superior firepower. Yularen agreed, as evident when he mention this to Commander Tano. She responded by saying that _in which case we knew what to do_ before reminding us not to commit to a course of action before we had time to assess the situation.

Once the 3 hours were up scouts were sent to report on the blockade over Ryloth.

It had been a success, no ships were in orbit over the planet as they were forming a defensive formation around their 4 disabled ships. We had full access to the planet. It was decided that all ground deployments would be handled by the heavily damaged Resolute and two Acclamator's, that would land on the planet at General Windu's location. All others were to launch ODST's and other Spec Ops forces via ODP's and the rest were to land via Gunship, which were to stay planet side as assault and transport crafts for any ground engagement. Yularen would transfer to the Negotiator while both Generals and I were head to the planet so General Skywalker could lead the ground offensive. Commander Tano was to remain on the Negotiator and finish off the remains of the blockade alongside the Admiral.

Our arrival back in the Ryloth system was uncontested and our landing was without problems. General Windu was waiting at the end of the ramp to greet us to the planet and to take us to the command centre. While the fight over Ryloth had been a success, with little in the way of injuries or casualties, I doubted this would be the case on the ground. Either way, the storm over Ryloth was over, it was time for its liberation to begin.


	19. Chapter 19

John POV

'Let me be the first to say that I am glad you arrived when you did. I don't know how much longer we could have held out. Now let me get right into it. There are 3 minor continents that have a token force of droids, but that's only to keep the population in line as the continents have no real value towards holding Ryloth. The main, and largest, continent, Bashka, is where we are now. Currently we only hold the lower third and have been pushed steadily back since the Separatists managed to set up their blockade. We need to capture Wat Tambor if we want to end this fast, and to do that we need to take Lessu, the Capital.' General Windu wasted no time in getting us to the command centre and informing us of the situation. He had set up in the city of Resdin, the first and only city to be hit by the Separatists before the Twi'lek surrender. The Twi'leks had such a long history of being slaves, with their owners being sure to breed the more docile slaves to ensure they won't revolt in the future. This selective breeding and long past of slavery made it unsurprising they surrendered without fighting back after being shown such a display of force. The city was mostly rubble, due to orbital bombardment, but the flat lands around it made it a good staging ground to consolidate and house the clone forces.

While the General's briefing was more aimed towards General Skywalker, Kenobi and I made sure to pay close attention. There was currently 2 major cities between us and Lessu and they needed to be take before we could even begin thinking about taking the Capital. Kala'din was first and would be a big help in stabilising our control and foothold on the planet, which was tenuous at best at the moment. Nabat was the second city but it didn't have the natural defences of Kala'din. If we could take Nabat we could attack Kala'din in a two pronged assault but Tambor had but a lot of effort into placing droid defences around the city, knowing if he lost it we could make a direct assault on Lessu.

Kala'din was mountainous, like much of the planet, but had been built where two large mountains met. The mountain passes would allow us to sneak above the city and then enter undetected but they would never hold for the amount of troops needed to take the city, we'd be spotted quickly if we sent any larger force through the mountains, covert assault teams could be sent but it would be risky. The passes also had small droid patrols that would have to be avoided. The next problem was that it had more anti air guns than a city of its size would normally have. This was because of problem number three. The city had two ways in from the ground and they were both narrow passes from where the mountains met. They were situated on either side of the city and we were unfortunate enough to have the smaller pass. It was so tight you could barely walk down it in two by two. That wasn't even counting the cannons and wall turrets that lined the gates at the end of either pass, these would mow down any infantry or tanks that attempted to attack. This made an air assault the only viable option for getting enough troops into the city to take and hold it, hence the extra guns.

General Skywalker had command over all available ground forces by order of the Supreme Chancellor so he had the difficult task of taking Kala'din. I was helping to set up the defences around our new staging area while General Windu was cataloguing our forces, troops, supplies and vehicles. General Kenobi was setting up key structures for the new troops like the Med, Command and Communication centres. They were just big open spaces filled with tents that were assigned specific functions but it was the best we had since the city was a wreck.

Kenobi had set the Med Centre close to the temporary airfield, so that the injured could be quickly transferred, but made sure to keep it far enough away that it won't be hit if the airfield is targeted by bombers. I made sure to set up a heavy concentration of our AA guns around the area. The rest were evenly spread around the rest of our camp to ensure that we had maximum coverage. The downed Venator and Acclamator's were to use their turrets as extra support if the droids did attack, but with them here it didn't look to be a viable option so we should be fairly safe from air attack.

Eventually, once the defences had been placed, all I was doing was waiting for General Skywalker to come up with a plan of attack. It was a few hours before he called for a strategy meeting to discuss his plans. It was a surprising take on the problem but it's timing would need to be perfect that was for sure. Skywalker wanted to engage the droids outside of the city rather than risk an assault and he planned to do this by sending fake orders to the droids in the city.

After seeing Cortana change her hologram he had come up with a plan where we use a false image of Tambor to give the droids in the city fake commands to start an assault on a fake forward outpost. Torrent Company of the 501st was to man the outpost and fire at the droids when they made to engage. After a brief skirmish they were to make a fighting retreat before artillery was to rain down on the position destroying the droid forces. While the bombardment started Lightning Squadron, that would be waiting behind some hills near the outpost, would rush over the hill and cut the droids off from the pass before taking care of any that are left. Timing was key here and relied on everything going right at exactly the right time.

First, the outpost had to be built in record time so the droids didn't start questioning their attack orders, the Tactical droids had a surprising amount of sense but then that was what they were made for and they had no offensive capability. If we took our time building the outpost Wat Tambor could send orders before we could, which would derail everything.

Second, the 501st had to make sure the didn't retreat too soon otherwise the droids would just turn back, as their orders would be to disable the outpost not chase the clones right to our door step, which has been heavily fortified. They also couldn't take too long otherwise they would be caught by the droids and the artillery couldn't fire and, due to them fighting within the outpost, Lightning Squadron would be no help. If all went well then Lightning had to be fast enough to get between the droids and the pass while going slow enough to not alert the droids and have them send reinforcements out from the city. It was bold and, if it all fell into place, meant there wouldn't be enough droids to hold the city, leaving us able to attack from the mountains and take the city with ease.

It was a... _decent_ plan but had high risk. My real problem was the fact we seemed to be relying on luck. I am a believer that luck is a great weapon that can turn the tide of battle but you should never make a plan that relys on it. Skywalker was putting his faith in the Force to come through for him and make sure everything went smoothly but he had no guarantee, thus he was relying on luck. I too put faith in something but that was the placed in the people involved in my plan. I had faith that those I included in my plan would perform to the best of their ability and adapt should anything go wrong. I also accounted for any problems that may came up and had a contingency plan should a plan fail at any stage. Skywalker had no such assurances.

Every critical stage had a high chance of failure. If the droids suspect their orders, if Torrent couldn't get out in time, if they left too soon, if Lightning Squadrons timing was off, then it would all fall apart. There was no room for error. I looked to Generals Kenobi and Windu and they looked concerned but didn't voice it, they didn't have anything better so were putting their faith in this plan. I didn't have anything better either. I hadn't spend any time coming up with a plan because that wasn't my job, but after seeing the situation, maybe I should have. This was the best plan we had and that was a worrying thought.

* * *

John POV

We had spent time creating prefab screens that could be clipped together to create an outpost in record time. The slabs were just a flimsy bit of durasteel that had latches that would clip to each other when placed side by side. For transport, they could be stacked on top of each other and attached to a repulsor cart to be transferred to the outpost site. The outpost would only be equipped with a communications array so that Torrent Company can report to command. Cortana had even offered her services but this was to help create the hologram of Wat Tambor as well as a voice modulator so that we could sound like him too.

Once the preparations were complete it was dark so General Skywalker postponed the plan until 0900 hours tomorrow. Once the clock hit 9 o'clock Captain Rex and his men mounted some speeders and set off to the outpost site. After about 2 hours they radioed in that the outpost was complete, at which point General Skywalker sent Lightning Squadron into position. This was it. We commed the Tactical droid and waited, with baited breath, for the comms to connect. As soon as the droid appeared on the holotable Skywalker started to type. No one wanted to get his speech patterns wrong so Cortana had helped to create a text to speech program that used some of ONI's archived intelligence recordings that featured Tambor, these recordings were taken to provide accurate intel that didn't rely on memory, as we then had a digital copy. His speech mannerisms were present in the recordings and were used to create this Wat Tambor impersonation program.

It seemed to be working too as the droid acknowledged the order to destroy the outpost.

Torrent reported that a whole column was coming, this meant B-1's, 2's and AAT's. The holotable updated with the appearance of the droid column, Rex's constant updates gave use real time troop movements that allowed General Skywalker to have accurate intel to ensure the timing of the plan was spot on. We waited for the droids to get closer and closer before Rex's voice blared to life. Vulture droids were being sent to strafe the outpost and were targeting the communications array. Rex's transmission became more and more garbled so General Skywalker ordered them to pull out now.

Without Rex's constant updates we had to use the previous speed of the droid forces to estimate when they reached the outpost. Once the droid holo figure reached the outpost General Skywalker ordered for the Cannons to open fire and for Lightning Squadron to take up position and block the droids retreat.

'General. We don't know if Torrent made it out. We should hold of bombardment until we can confirm…' General Skywalker rounded on me. I knew he didn't like me so I had been keeping quiet, giving him the room to command the troops, but I didn't like operating on this amount of uncertainty.

'I have faith in Captain Rex, maybe you should to.' The thing was I did have faith in the Captain but he was still human and could only do so much. I also had faith he would make the decision that best helped his men and right now that would have been to stay put, so he doesn't get them killed via Vulture strafing. Due to their belief in the Force, and its all encompassing will, Jedi are more inclined to have a faith that everything was going well until they had a _feeling_ telling them otherwise, I preferred to have proof. Luck only went so far, and faith even less. With communications down we should approach the situation with caution not blind faith.

'With all due respect sir, now isn't the time to be putting faith into other worldly things like the Force. We need to have hard confirmation that they have escaped the blast radius.' Why wouldn't he just listen? His own men were at risk and he was just going ahead without a second thought, for what, to show me up? I didn't care about whatever imagined rivalry he thought we had, we had a job to do and he was risking everything by not focusing on that.

'Well I…' The comms cackled back to life but the trooper talking was only coming through in fragmented pieces.

'Cease fir… se fire. We're sti… Capt… down. I repeat C… is down. Request immediat… eing slaughtered out he…' They cut out. General Skywalker ordered all cannons to cease fire but he was then just stuck there looking at the table, not doing anything. That's it, enough's enough.

If Skywalker won't help them I will, I had hung back far too much already. I turned and headed straight for the door, not saying a word to anyone. If they want to sit here and do nothing while Torrent Company was being wiped out, fine, but I was going to do everything I could to help them.

'What do you think you are doing?' I was done playing nice with Skywalker.

'Finishing this fight.'

* * *

Hevy POV

Captain Rex had been giving steady updates to Command on the droid movements. He was showing a surprising amount of faith in General Skywalker despite what I had seen of him, as a person and a general, over my time under his command.

'Sir, isn't this plan a little, I dunno, thin?! I mean, it's just the bare basics of an actual plan and doesn't offer any room to move from it, we have to follow it to the letter otherwise the whole thing falls apart. It doesn't seem to be a solid plan, how can you be so calm about?' Rex gave a snort.

'You weren't with us on Christophsis so I'll forgive your naivete, Hevy. But trust me when I say, this is one of the more tactically sound plans the General has ever had. On Christophsis he didn't even tell us his plan before he had us Base Jump of a building with a jump jets, right into the middle of a droid column. In front of the tanks no less, just to take out a few Magna Octuptarra droids. We weren't even needed as the General just took them out himself.' Gods above. This guy was crazy. Hardcase jumped in.

'That's nothing. To sneak past a whole line of droids he hid under a box that was sat right in front of another droid assault force. And the droids just walked right over him.' Was he trying to get caught?!

'Why didn't he just sneak around them?' I had been there on Christophsis so there could be a reason.

'I don't know, but that's General Skywalker for you. It wasn't all bad news back there though. Rex got to be under the Master Chiefs command. Twice.' I turned from Hardcase to the Captain and he explained his time with the Chief attacking a gun encampment. From his stance and his tone of voice you could see just how much that mission meant to him. He explained it was that mission that taught him just what it meant to be in command, it taught him the difference of spending lives, and wasting them. I never thought about it like that before. I just saw some deaths as unavoidable and some as necessary, I never actually thought about choosing when to let people die to further the mission and just when such a decision was necessary, and when it could be avoided.

It actually let me appreciate the General's plan a bit more, having us here was necessary to save lives from a frontal assault on the city, but it also brought up more doubts. To me, it seemed like the General absence of a backup plan, or the fact that the original plan was so inflexible, would lead to a waste of lives if something went wrong. Rex started to scan the horizon with a renewed vigour.

'Something's wrong.' We all readied ourselves, if the Captain said something was up then I believed him, we had learnt to trust in the Captain's instincts about this sort of thing. It was like he had a sixth sense.

Not 2 minutes after Rex's warning Vulture Droids started to attack the outpost. Rex radioed in to General Skywalker but the array had been damaged before he got a response. An engineer was ordered to fix the array as soon as possible while Rex told the rest of us to wait. He was sure that General Skywalker would send fighters to take care of the Vultures, that the plan could still be salvaged. We really needed the General to pull through here because if those Vultures weren't dealt with then we wouldn't be going anywhere, they would pick us off before we even got to the nearest bit of cover. In other words, we were trapped.

The droid army was getting closer and closer and we still had no air support. Rex so sure that General Skywalker would pull through, that we would get that air support, but once the droids forces were on top of us I realised that we wouldn't be getting that support, I realised that the General had abandoned us.

I had resigned myself to a hard slog through these droid forces before I heard the sound that would come to haunt me for the rest of my life. It was the sound of an incoming shell, and not just any shell, it was ours. Skywalker hadn't abandoned us, no, he put a gun to the back of our heads and pulled the _kriffing_ trigger. Rex was so betrayed he didn't know what to do.

As the first shell hit we were thrown to the ground. It had just become a massive cluster fuck, with the droid forces nearly on top of us, and the shells were making short work of the flimsy building we were hold up in. As the droids started to get close enough to enter firing range I heard the Captain shout my name. I turned to him and felt something push me with a surprising amount of force.

I knew the Captain had pushed me. But how? He should have been just out of touching distance from me so how…? It was something to ponder over later as a shell had landed right where I just was, before the Captain pushed me, it was like the Force or something. The explosion rocked me back and I slammed into the floor.

My whole vision was blurry and my ears were ringing but the helmet had limited most of the damage so it past quickly, guess these bucket _were_ good for something. As I got up to my knees I took a look around me. The shells had finally stopped and the Vultures were gone but the droids were nearly on top of us. I looked around for the Captain and I saw him. He was lying face up with the right side of his visor broke, pieces sticking out of his eye, and his right arm had been blown clean off at the elbow. I rushed to his side.

'Sir. Can you hear me? REX. STAY WITH ME. REX. **REX**.' I flagged down a medic, it was Kix, who went to work stabilising him with what little supplies he had. Red flooded my vision. Rex had trust him, he had **trusted** Skywalker. And this is what had happened. Skywalker did this, he did this. He did **ALL OF THIS**. All this death, all these men needlessly killed or injured, and it was all. _H_ _is. Fault_.

I grabbed my Rotary Blaster and rushed out of what little cover remained.

'EAT PLASMA CLANKEEEEEERS.' Rage had take over me and I don't remember what happened next. Some of the boys said I rallied those that were left and started to lead a counter assault. That I was ordering men into cover, giving orders for heavy ordnance to take out tanks and generally taking command in what little way I could but I don't remember.

All I remember is the colour of LAAT laser cannons cutting up droids; the shape of those same Republic gunships landing in front of us; and I remember the sound of the Master Chief ordering us to grab the wounded and get into the Gunships.

I remember grabbing the Captain and hauling him onto the nearest Gunship, I remember the hand the Master Chief placed on my shoulder and I remember the tears that just wouldn't stop when he said those words _it's over soldier, it's over. We're going back._ I had never felt so happy.

* * *

John POV

After leaving the Command Centre I headed straight to the airfield and find Commander Cody. I had him get whatever men he had and to man all the Gunships that could fly. I also gathered men to get inside the belly of the LAAT's, 3 men per Gunship, this was so we had men that would be able to provide cover fire as we extracted Torrent Company.

Cody had gotten enough Gunships to transport an entire battalion ready in under 15 minutes, more than enough for Torrent Company which was only the third of the size of a full battalion, less with any casualties as was sure to be the case. After a quick flight check we were in the air and going full speed to the outpost sight. I had commed Commander Ponds, the leader of Lightning Squadron, and ordered him to rush to Torrents position. They were to take as much pressure off of Torrent before our arrival.

The anti air guns from Kala'din were pounding the Gunships and we had lost more than a few before reaching Lightning and Torrent, though we still had enough to evacuate everyone back to base.

Once we got within range of the outpost site, that had been decimated, leaving Torrent to take shelter in the craters and behind what was left of the walls, Cody ordered the use of missile on the AAT's and had the Laser Cannons fire on the infantry.

Once a line had been cleared between the lead clone, a trooper with a Rotary Blaster that was barking orders at what remained of his men, and the droid line Cody ordered transports to land. Both doors opened to allow us to fire on the droids from one side and load the men from the other. I gave the lead clone orders to get his men and the wounded onto the Gunship. The other Gunships were providing air support or were loading Lightning Squadron for evac, their AT-RT's had to be left but I would rather save the men than their vehicles.

After all the troops were on board we lift off and headed back to the base, pushing the Gunships far beyond safe levels. As we were rising into the air I managed to get a good look at the city and where the anti air fire was coming from. The doors then closed and we were on our way.

Back at base all medics had been scrambled and were pulling all of the wounded of the LAAT's and onto land speeders where they were transported to the med centre. The lead clone was with the Captain and he wasn't leaving his side. The Captain didn't look good but I hoped he would pull through.

Even with the recovery of Torrent Company, or at least what was left, we still had to take the city. Thanks to the work of Lightning and the 212th Gunship we had decimated the droid column but we still had to deal with whatever we didn't destroy as well as all the forces still within the city. After getting a good look at the gun emplacements I had been forming a plan to take out the guns and then take the city. The main problem would be with the droids within the city. As soon as any attempt on any of the encampments was made they would swarm on the small infiltration squads. We needed a way to get a large force inside the city to draw the droid forces. This would allow infiltration squads to take out the gun emplacements, which would allow Gunship support and for troops to be transported into the city.

Thanks to the losses the droids had taken we may have a chance of a relatively small force being able to hold a portion of the city if we can get them inside. If infiltration squads could use the mountain pass to enter the city undetected and then take the gate we could march in a force that would be able to hold it. These men would be outnumbered but they would only have to hold out long enough for the anti air to be taken out before reinforcements could enter the city. This would also be the most dangerous part. If those guns aren't taken out then the force holding the gate would have to retreat. If they didn't move fast enough the gates defences could be reactivated and kill any who were retreating.

I started to think about it some more. Even if they were detected, the infiltration squad could take the gate fast enough to get troops into the city. Due to the automated nature of the defences there won't be many droids so once we reach the central computer controlling the point defences we had control over the gate. A small enough force, moving through the canyon pass with enough speed, could reach the gate before the droids. Once we had the gate we could blow the inactive turrets and cannons so they couldn't be reactivated if they need to retreat.

Even if they did retreat, so long as they drew enough attention for the infiltration squads to take out the guns before the droids could turn back and defend them, we could take the city. Once the guns were down we could fly in support. If we couldn't take out the guns then the infiltration squads could scatter around the city and become insurgency squads that runs interference before another attempt at the city is made, feeding us inside information.

Even if the plan failed at any stage no one would be trapped like Torrent had been and we could still severely cripple what was left of the droids.

If the squads were spotted in the mountains the mission could be scrapped. If we lost the gate we had at least destroyed the defences to give us a more viable ground assault option next time and even if we didn't take out the AA guns the infiltration squads could take their time to harass the droids or sneak out the gate now it was only being manned by droids and the defences had been neutralised.

I went in search of the clone trooper that was rallying Torrent Company. From what I had seen of his actions at the outpost his men knew and respected him and I would need his help in selecting the best infiltrators from the 501st.

I found him in the med centre next to Captain Rex. He had been bandaged up and the stump of his arm had been strapped to his side to make sure he didn't move it if he woke up, his chest had been strapped down too for the same reason. The right side of Rex's head was wrapped and he had a drip in his left arm.

'How is he?' The trooper turned to me and gave me a shallow nod.

'He'll pull through, in dire need of some prostheses but he'll be fine, I just know it.' I nodded back even though his attention had returned to the Captain.

'You've had a tough time out there but I am in need of your help. Like the 212th, who have a reputation for the best Gunships in the army, the 501st have a reputation for having the best ODST's. You know the men, I need your knowledge to help select some men to accompany me on a mission to take Kala'din. We need to move before the droids reinforce the city, before the lives Torrent Company was made to pay are truly wasted. I need 15 men to help me take the city now that their numbers are low enough.' The trooper took a long second to stare at the Captain before he stood and turned to me.

'I don't know about the rest, I'd have to ask them first, but I can give you one name already. The names Hevy and I want in.' He held out his hand so I shook it.

'Welcome aboard Hevy.'


	20. Chapter 20

John POV

While the Jedi were still reeling from the Torrent Company disaster I had assembled those I need to take the City. First we had Hevy, he would lead one of the infiltration squads, code named Zulu. We then had Fits from the ODST subsection of the 501st called the Bull Rancors. They were the dedicated ODST squads while Torrent was more of a mix of each of the different trooper types, Regulars, Heavy's, Bomb Squads, Spec Ops etc. Fits and his team were labelled as Omega for this mission while Torch, also from the Bull, was leading Charlie.

For the legion that would hold the gate I went with the best we had on offer, Kaddak and the Immortals. The were strong, fearless and knew there way around Twi'lek cities from their time with Windu on Ryloth. There were also Windus only full strength legion, due to them being able to pull troops from the others legions under their command.

The final member of the team was Cody. Once the guns were disabled he would drop Ghost battalion of the 212th and the rest of the Bull Rancors into the city so we could hold it.

'Does everyone understand?' I looked around the table. Fits and Torch looked like they were okay but then they had been trained in insurgency skills as part of the ODST's. Hevy and his men were all picked from Torrent Company and looked far more eager, whether it was from wanting to get back at the droids or because I promised them a recommendation to the ODST if this all went well I don't know but it was most likely a combination. Kaddak looked bloodthirsty. It would be his first time under Spartan leadership since Kamino and he looked to very happy with the chance to bloody his hands, in the metaphorical sense as droids don't have blood, under the command of a child of Kad Ha'rangir. Cody had a level of concern on his face but I was confident that these men could adapt should something happen.

We were waiting for nightfall before moving out to give us the maximum amount of coverage when making our assault. While we were moving through the pass Zulu, Omega and Charlie all had orders to hold fire, if they could, as we had to make it to the gate without alerting the droids. All teams had silenced SMG's if they needed them. Kaddak was getting the Immortals ready for the march towards the ground passes into the city. We would all be using our night vision helmet attachments or settings until it was time to attack. At this point the Immortals will light torches and march down the pass so as to increase their intimidation factor.

The Twi'lek's are a deeply superstitious people and, during their time on Ryloth, the Immortals had earned the name of the Undead Legion. In part due to their seemingly eternal resurrection but also due to the fact that some of the clones that replaced lost Immortals wore damaged armour, until a suitable replacement could be made. This combined with their walking marches, making it seem like they are some kind of zombie that doesn't need to run, has lead the Twi'leks to believe them, not to be invulnerable as Halsey had wanted, but see the Immortals as coming back from the dead for revenge. The torches should cast ominous shadows on the armour to distort it more and work the Twi'leks of Kala'din into a frenzy, providing a distraction for the droids. Kaddak had been using this tactic since he accidentally discovered it when working to liberate a Twi'lek slave camp, which had gotten the captured slaves so worked up they were banging on bars and gates and just generally distracting the droids.

With the added distraction of a frenzied population, that had to be corralled, the Immortals could hold the gate for longer due to the droids taking longer or coming in smaller numbers. The only problem was this made the infiltration squads jobs harder. If Twi'leks mobbed the streets then we needed to go over them, as we couldn't take the streets, meaning we had to take jump jets so we could move along the rooftops.

Cody was to ready his men for transport as soon as the Immortals started their marched so as to be ready for us taking out the guns and to limit the chance of the Jedi stopping us, by waiting till the last possible second to get ready and alert them that Cody and his men were involved until it was too late to stop them. Without Cody we couldn't hold the city and if any of the Jedi stopped him, specifically Skywalker, then we were in for a long walk back as we could never hold the city.

Once we had all gotten our gear together we set off. The Immortals had to take different exits to better hide their departure as the sound of their march had become distinctive, even on the battle field, and Windu would surely recognise it. The less clustered they were the quieter the sound. They would re converge when we were out of the ruins and into the open fields so that the Jedi couldn't recall any of us. I was leading the infiltration teams to the mountains but had made sure that the Immortals had made it out before continuing on, we didn't want to get trapped in the city.

At the mountain passes we had all split up. I took one path while Zulu, Omega and Charlie each took their own. This was to limit out chance of detection by ensuring we were in small enough groups to slip past the patrols. I had made it to the rendezvous point swiftly, encountering little resistance and being able to avoid it all with a bit of manoeuvring. it was a little ledge that overlooked the gate, right over one of the cannons, but it was a hell of a jump to get down.

Originally we were going to follow the the trails into the city but with the jump jets we could just jump off the cliff, meaning we didn't have to sneak through the city and we reached the gate sooner. Omega and Charlie arrived quickly but we were waiting for over half an hour before Zulu showed up, I was just about to continue without them. It seems they had to take cover in a small cave as droids were passing by but the droids had taken up sentry at the mouth of the cave and Hevy didn't want to chance that they would be missed so didn't fire. A good move on his part, Omega and Charlie seemed to agree if the slight head inclinations were anything to go by, as we didn't want to take out any patrols before we had the city in case they failed to report in and we were found out.

'As soon as we jump we will alert the droid forces so we will need to work fast. It will be some time before reinforcements arrive for both sides but we need to get this done as fast as possible. Are you ready?' I received a round of _Yes sir_ 's so I turned to the cliff and jumped.

When we jumped I had us form a tight free fall formation so as to limit our profile from enemy fire, but a good shot will still take us out, luckily it seems we were undetected during our jump, but that didn't last. Once we landed the limited forces manning the wall commed in for support, we then went about finished off the droids as quickly as possible but the sound of Vulture droids filled the air. After disabling the point defences and informing Kaddak to start his march we hunkered down until the Vultures had passed over head, finishing their first strafe. The cannons we still operational so I quickly jumped on one while Hevy took the other.

It was only a single Squardron of 5 but they were hard to see in the dark, even with the targeting computers, making it hard to take them down. They got of 2 more runs before we shot them down. Damn cannons didn't rotate so we had to wait for them to make a pass before we could take a shot.

The sound of the Immortals march could be heard now that the sound of cannons and Vulture droids was over and the Twi'leks were getting nervous, more than few had started to poke their heads out of doors to see what was happening but most were silent. Once we opened the gates and Kaddaks men entered the city all hell broke loose. Screaming and stomping filled the streets as the Twi'leks ran from the Immortals right into the droids. The Tactical droid in charge ruthless as he had ordered the droids to fire on the Twi'leks, creating a bloodbath and causing the Twi'leks to scatter further. The Immortals had set up their defences so the infiltration squads and I were going to head for the AA guns when Twi'leks burst from the houses and alleyways, opening fire on the droid forces. It seems we might not need Cody after all.

We left the Twi'leks and the Immortals to deal with the droids while the infiltration squads and I went to deal with the AA guns. With the invasion and the Twi'lek rebellion the droid forces were spread so thin they couldn't mount any sort of defence even at the guns. We took them out in minutes allowing Cody and our reinforcements to land in the city with ease. We had some trouble getting the Twi'leks settled and to stop their riots but we had help in the form of the Twi'lek resistance leader Cham Syndulla.

Once the Twi'leks had settled I radioed in our successful liberation to General Windu who was to help transfer our forces to the more defensible position in Kala'din. We spent the next two days transferring our forces and setting up the city as best we could. The droids hadn't sent another force to retake the city but had instead, by all reports, spent their time shoring up the defences at Nabat.

Cham had thanked me personally once he found out my part in the liberation of Kala'din. He had been in the city for over a week building a rebel cell to help him and the rest of his men to retake the city. He joined us at our next meeting to discuss what to do about Nabat. Due to my position as a free entity the Generals couldn't bring me up on charges of insubordination or disobeying orders, as Skywalker was pushing for, citing his connections with the Chancellor as a way to make it possible. Kenobi and Windu looked to have a grudging respect for my actions, even if they didn't agree with me not informing them and using their men without asking, the fact that this was the largest use of the Spartans ability to use available forces since the war began probably didn't help. While they may have let me use their forces if I had asked I didn't want to risk them stopping me, or more specifically telling Skywalker who would stop me, combine this with the fact that the Jedi have just realised how far a Spartan can go, if they find Jedi orders to be highly foolish, didn't make me the most popular person around the table.

As this was Chams first meeting with the Jedi he had taken exception to Skywalkers attack on my person. I had just helped to free his people so he wasn't very receptive to the hostility of Skywalker. Cham had even suggested I take command after finding out that Skywalker was in charge, even threatening to pull his support if I wasn't.

We had to contact the Chancellor to help sort it out but that brought its own problems with Senator Orn Free Taa. Having enough of the constant bickering the Chancellor lost his temper and called for order. We had all fallen silent as the Chancellor sat down and put the tips of his fingers together as he thought about how to sort this out.

Eventually he decided that Orn Free Taa would continue to rule over Ryloth while offering Syndulla the position of military leader for Ryloth upon its liberation from occupation. This was agreed by both parties, Taa could keep his power while Cham could now protect his people how he felt was necessary. Now we had sort out the repercussions of my actions.

As I hadn't technically done anything wrong I could really be punished but I could be put into an undesirable position. I only took command as I felt it was necessary not because I wanted it, so the Chancellor made me in charge of all available forces to help liberate Ryloth, after which my performance will be evaluated and he will decide what to do with me then. I would probably just be put back on solo missions and as far away from Skywalker as possible, which was fine by me though I would miss working with some of the 501st, they had proven to be exceptionally capable and it would be a shame not to work with such great soldiers again.

The Generals would retain control of their respective legions and would be responsible for ensuring they played their part in whatever plan I came up with, but only in the field, while I was to control the battlefield from the command centre. They had in field command while I was relegated to the command centre, I was not happy about this but I did understand the necessity and it had proven to be the best solution for the time bring. Skywalker took some satisfaction with my pseudo punishment but he still looked angry at losing his command while Kenobi and Windu looked happy with the diplomatic resolution of the situation.

The Chancellor ended the call, having made his decision, and Skywalker left in a hurry. The others gave me a nod each before they left. Cham was organising relief supplies with Kenobi while Windu was over seeing our work around the city. I decided that before I start making plans for Nabat that I should start with writing up those ODST recommendations for Hevy and his men, Fives, Echo, Kix and Hardcase. They had performed well and more than deserved the chance to join.

* * *

Palpatine POV

It seems like things were getting more and more out of hand around the Spartans. Not that was necessarily a bad thing, in fact the opportunities they have presented have proven very fortuitous, but they were making it hard to keep up and make sure everything went to plan, not impossible but more work than it should be. After Durges poor test of Spartan-117's capabilities, he had proven to be a master swordsman and Durge was an adept at best making it a poor skill to test him with, I would need to speak to Dooku about that soon. I had hoped to arrange another test of his skills first but it seems Ryloth offered a chance to test his command. This would be a good chance to tie him down, and gain a bit more control over the Spartan, with the command of his own men as a reward for the liberation of Ryloth, if he does succeed or depending on his performance.

While I had hoped Anakin could use his command to regain control of his men it seems to be an even harder task, if not impossible, after his fiasco with Torrent Company. It seems my _desire_ to see his unique command abilities, combined with the pressures of such a high command and the Master Chief's presence, has had an adverse effect on him, he was not always so reckless or at least not to such an extreme. I would need to sort that out when I start his training. His emotions would only help make him more powerful but only if he could control them, not be consumed by them. He had been losing control more often lately and it was attracting Jedi attention, this would have to be corrected.

I looked over the report from Lama Su. After Halsey's influence over the clones grew Lama wanted to create pure clones in line with Jango's vision so he had set up a secondary facility to produce troopers without Mandalorian influence unless it had been approved by Jango's training. They numbered less than 5% of all available forces and their combat scores were far below their Mandalorian brethren. I had originally planned to give command of a group to the Master Chief, and any of the other standout Spartan commanders, but it seemed they were connecting more with the Mandalorian clones. So much so that their mere presence was enough to rally troopers that had been all but crushed before the arrival of the Spartans. The rest were being trained as Shock troopers for riot control, the same as the clones produced by my own facility on Coruscant.

After hearing Anakin's complaints with the 501st I had finally decided to think about giving him command of these more obedient troopers. That was what set them apart see, while they didn't perform as well they followed orders far more strictly, if Anakin was commanding these troops rather than the 501st on Ryloth then I have no doubt they would have followed Anakin's plan to the letter, even at the expense of their own health by leaving the outpost even under fire from the Vulture droids. With my training Anakin will be more than enough for him to make up the gap between the Jango clones and the Mandalorian ones so they were looking to be a more and more viable option. That is if I do give them to him. I will make a final decision after Ryloth was free.

I am sure that Anakin will call soon to demand to know what I am doing, taking his command from him. Demand. His emotions getting the better of him again. He forgot that even though I was not yet his Master I was still his superior and very much his better. I would need to teach him proper respect when I officially took over his training.

I was going to start slowly at first, draw him in with forbidden knowledge and power. Once I was sure of his loyalty to me I would reveal my capability to use the force before then, eventually, moving onto the fact that I was the Sith Lord.

First we start with oral lessons, stories and descriptions of the different Force abilities and how to use them. We then move onto practical lessons and demonstrations before I finally start teaching him like a true Sith, through pain.

He was calling me. After accepting the call he started to rant and rave at me. Oh poor baby Anakin, everyone was turning against him, his men, his Padawan and his Master, and it was all because of the Master Chief. Fool. He was so blind to the truth due to his own arrogance and paranoia. When he wasn't so wrapped up in his own little world he was perfect, confident, charismatic and approachable, he would make the perfect poster boy of Imperial rule, but when he got like this he was insufferable. While I will admit it does help speed his descent into darkness, a very good thing for me, it was not the behaviour suitable for a Lord of the Sith. This would be the first thing I beat out of him when his training truly begins.

I had to explain that Chams assistance was invaluable due to their being no more Republic reinforcements available to help bring back up the numbers, a subtle jab at his Torrent Company disaster, along with the information he could provide being sorely needed. And, if he would follow the Spartans, then it would also help smooth Ryloths transition into the Empire if both Syndulla and Free Taa were willing to follow me or those under my command. I also explained this was a chance for him to reconnect with the 501st, by leading them personally. If he can lead them to victory on Ryloth he may be able to reassert his command over them.

He tried arguing that it was for that reason I gave him full authority of the war effort on the planet but I countered by saying that I felt this needed a more personal touch, not for him to be so far from the men but by actually leading them to victory. This will be the true test to see what is done with the 501st and whether Anakin is to remain in command after this is over.

Either way, he would command a legion that was loyal to him and I would separate him from any Spartans now that his loss of control around them had become so apparent.

* * *

Obi-wan POV

'Well. Things certainly have gotten… interesting.' Mace wasn't wrong there, this whole situation was a mess. Though I think this whole thing has given me a better look at Anakin. Normally Anakin was a very caring and selfless person, putting everything he had into something greater than himself. This could be the Jedi Order, his friends or even his, suspected, lover. Though that didn't mean that his efforts always paid off for the better despite his intentions. Still, he wasn't one to so carelessly ask something of others unless he himself was willing to also do it to. While he would have been more than willing to follow the plan he made alongside his men, the hastiness of the plan and the rash decisions he made during it have highlighted what, I believe, is the problem. Pressure.

Anakin had been put under increasing pressure with little time to adjust. First he was made a Knight and then a General in short succession, with a host of new responsibilities. After only a few months to adjust he was given a Padawan and had to get over his past grudges made manifest, in the form of the Spartans, at the same time. He then had added pressure from the Chancellor to free Ryloth, giving him a greater command than he was used to. He then had the Master Chief questioning him.

While I wasn't criticising the Master Chief or his actions, he had saved a lot of men and managed to capture the city after all, the fact that he disagreed so openly with Anakin resulted in a snap decision from him. The subsequent undermining of Anakin's authority also wouldn't go down well, even less now he had actually freed Kala'din and taken Anakin's old position even if that was never his intention.

Anakin had been placed under increasing amounts of pressure and he just wasn't coping well. Perhaps we need to take some of the pressure off of him. While he wouldn't be happy, seeing this a sign we don't trust him no doubt, it needed to be done until he could cope with the weight placed on him before more weight was added. I explained as much to Mace.

'I agree. Your concerns regarding Skywalker have been noted by the rest of the council and have been monitored closely. Seeing his state first hand leaves me with a similar opinion. I have never been Skywalkers biggest supporter but that doesn't make my concerns any less valid.' I just poured us both a cup of tea. As the commanders Mace, Anakin, the Master Chief and I were all given one of the vacant buildings near the command centre each. Mace was at mine as I offered to share some of my tea stash with him, something he eagerly accepted. It seems even he missed some of the comforts offered by the temple.

'Speaking of valid concerns, what is your take on the Spartan situation?' Mace took a long sip to think about his answer.

'While our original concerns were valid the Spartans have done their best to turn those concerns to simple worries. Seeing the concern for Torrent Company and the taking of the city I am of the opinion that the Spartans can be trusted. I will still advise caution but that is more due to their abilities then anything. They have proven to be loyal to the Republic and have shown no inclination towards Mandalore. While I am not sure of their intentions for fighting this war, the fact that they were trained alongside the clones lets me believe they have a similar reasoning, because they were told to.' I was glad. The Jedi had been keeping a close eye on the Spartans activities ever since we knew they were fighting in this war. This bred a level of distrust between us. They didn't like the fact that we didn't trust them nor did they like the fact that this lead to some doing all they could to hinder the Spartans. Convincing Mace of their worth would go a long way towards convincing the council, which would lead to less Jedi actively opposing them but instead working with them. Us showing them trust should result in them giving us trust back. It was, after all, a lack of trust in the Jedi that resulted in the Master Chief going behind our backs to us our troopers in his plan for Kala'din.

The Spartans already had the full confidence of the clones and the Master Chief's capture of Kala'din will only cause that to grow. That and the low casualties thanks to the Twi'lek Rebels help. We need to work with the Spartans otherwise we could cause a rift to form in the army that lead to the clones subverting orders to accomplish what they felt was necessary, something that was starting to happen if Hevy's actions on Naboo were any indication. Hevy chose to follow my orders even though he was under Anakin's command because he was losing trust in his commanding officer. If no clone was willing to follow a Jedi who knows what will happen.

We moved onto lighter topics, stories and anecdotes from the war. I had more than a tale or two to share about my adventures. A fair few involved Anakin and the situations he ended up getting himself into leaving me to get him out of, most of the time. Mace didn't smile often, and the war would have only made it a rarer thing, so it was nice to see that he honestly enjoyed the stories by the grin on his face or the laughter he shared. He seemed especially fond of the times Anakin or I had managed to get ourselves trapped or captured, though the Mother of all Gundark story seemed to be a new favourite.

'What do you know of the old code?' That brought him up short.

'What do you mean?' I explained that with Master Bnar's arrival and his lessons on the Mandalorians he had mentioned, more than once, that the Jedi of his time had families and that they followed a different code. I told him about it and asked if he knew why we stopped using it. He confessed to not having any knowledge of it or the reason it was no longer used.

'Do you follow it? This new code.' I sighed and nodded. 'Mandalore, the Duchess.' It wasn't question so I didn't answer him.

'What do you think of it.?' Mace went on to explain that he created Vaapad because he loved battle and wished to turn that love into a more Jedi appropriate form. It had resulted in the creation of Vaapad, but this had only increased his love for a good fight.

'But despite all of that I have never thought of myself as anything less than a Jedi, and neither should you. You are a great Jedi and have always put your duty as a Jedi over your other feelings. Is that not what it means to be a Jedi?' I then asked if he too would follow the old code but he said he would have to meditate on his answer, but that, in any case, the council would need to know that I did. If he joined me he would inform the council of his decision as well.

'We will need to ensure that this knowledge, this code, is shared with only those approved by the council. There is a reason so many Jedi fell to the darkside during those times and it wasn't just because there were so many Sith.' I agreed with him. The council will need to evaluate each person to ensure that they could handle following this version of the code, that they would still understand that there were restrictions on us as Jedi and that this older version was even more of a responsibility as the freedom of the code meant that we were more accountable for our own actions and had to resist the darkside more often as we would be exposing ourselves to greater temptations. Mace as informed me that Anakin would not be approved, not without significant improvement. I agreed with that too. Anakin would just see it as the freedom to do anything and still be able to call himself a Jedi when it really meant that while you could enjoy more freedom you would have to give that all up if it ever interfered with your responsibilities as a Jedi.

Anakin would never give up the new joys he would find under the freedom of this code so he wouldn't be considered by the council to learn it. It was a high level of responsibility and Anakin was struggling as it is. No need to increase his temptations.


	21. Chapter 21

John POV

It took two days to get ourselves settled in Kala'din. Jerome and Isabel had arrived one the first day and went with me to take the antidote to Whip. He had to spend a few hours in recovery but he was back on his feet in no time. I had toured the city with Red team during the wait to see how they were doing, it had been a while since I had a good talk with some of the Spartans so it was a nice change, I had even pulled Cortana's chip to let her talk with us as well. They seemed to be doing well, with a few assignments here and there, but nothing like Ryloth, not much was.

Time just flew by and before we knew it we had received a call from the medics that Whip was up and moving and they needed me to come and get him, _needed_ me because he was making a mess of his room and the medics couldn't control him. We went to go get him, which resulted in a proper round of greetings from Whip with him trying to trip us up, but he wasn't strong enough to take us down like that any more. We left quickly to free up his room. Isabel was pampering the _poor little thing_ and he was enjoying every second of it. After about another hour or two Halsey called to say Red team was needed and that we would have to say goodbye.

With Whip back on his feet I thought to the many injured from mine and Skywalkers attacks. While there were significantly less from my own assault there were still some, though more were Twi'leks. We were using the medical facilities on the downed ships for as many wounded as possible with priority to the critically wounded. With Commander Tanos success at finishing the rest of the blockade fleet we could now transfer the stable but critically wounded to nearby medical facilities. We were using one of the damaged Acclamators to make the trip, with a small Acclamator escort, while the other two ships went for repairs before coming back to rejoin the fleet and become a part of the blockade. Captain Rex was one of the clones on the transport list due to his stable condition. He would receive a new eye and arm prosthetic with a few weeks recovery time to get us to them.

It was the unstable wounded that were posing a problem for use to move so we requested several Pelta Class Medical Frigates as they were equipped to move such types of wounded. They would also be bringing basic supplies, food, medicine and some munitions, before picking up the more critically injured before moving anyone else they could take and heading back to the Med Stations.

Commander Tano had proven to be a very capable Naval commander. Her ships had suffered minor damage due to her more unique approach to the situation. With the remaining enemy blockade clustered she was out gunned so she used in-system hyperspace jumps to get into firing range and then jump out. She would approach at an odd angle while also angling upwards the hull of the ships so that the enemy ships would always be above her own, meaning they could use all of the cannons. She was using the full 3D 0G environment to her advantage by twisting and turning her ships into positions that would put out of direct sight of the main guns, this was to limit the damage to her fleet. Commander Tano would system jump into a random position around the enemy, using the full sphere around the enemy ships, and unleash everything before jumping out once the Separatists had just managed to orientate themselves to her position. This meant it was a slow process but we could deal a fair amount of damage while taking practically nil ourselves. Now that she was done we were healing the wounded and making repairs with her fleet taking up blockade positions. Admiral Yularen would now take back his command while Commander Tano was to become his temporary Vice-Admiral.

I spent the rest of the day working with Cortana to come up with a plan for Nabat. ONI had put a lot of effort into getting as much information on Ryloth as they could, and that was only made easier with the help of Cham and his rebels. The most important information was the placement of the defensive positions and the defences of the positions themselves. ONI reports indicated a set of 7 heavily defended positions that used a mix of AA and Artillery defences to protect the city. Cham had told us that just overrunning the positions would be a bad idea due to the Twi'lek body shields the droids were using along with some beasts called Gutkurrs.

Each battalion had 3 ground legions which mean that, with Torrent company, I had at least 9 legions to use, but Torrent were in no position to do anything on their own with how low their numbers are. The fact that each battalion had an armoured division each meant I had 5 ground legions to use as the armour was more liable to kill the Twi'leks. That left 2 Regulars and 3 Spec Ops legions, Skywalkers ODST's, Kenobi's Commandos and Windu's Immortals. I asked Cham if he could work with Torrent company but he would have to operate under a clone officer, as I had no time to familiarise myself with Twi'lek battle doctrine. He reluctantly agreed and that brought me back up to 6.

Thinking about it, Lightning Squadron could be used for one of the more open field gun placements, if they could get through their defences, but I would have to come back to that and see. Even if they could that meant I was 7 for 7 with no support troops to help any of them, except the remaining armour as the AA guns meant no Gunships or Bombers

Looking at the positions again I noticed that 3 gun positions were situated near the cliff region that was on the eastern side of Nabat. 1 position was in the centre and the final 3 were on the western half that joined the open plains. They would be the easiest to take but that meant the other 4 would have plenty of time to shore up defences and would only make them harder. This meant the cliffside positions would have to be taken first.

The enemy commander would most likely be in the central position meaning that had to be taken as soon as possible. Kenobi's Commando's should be a good fit to take it fast but I would need to think on it. The ODST's could make a base jump from the cliffs and take 1 of the positions and would mean they wouldn't need the extra men for a forward assault, which freed up a legion, but I had hoped for a Regular/Spec Ops pairing and with the Bull Rancors base jumping and Kenobi's Foxtrot Group, his Commando's, taking a position each then I wouldn't have enough to do so.

With some advice from Cortana I decide to assign Foxtrot and Bull their own targets while I placed the Immortals with Torrent Company. It was a sort of token gesture as the Immortals operated similar to the Regs anyway, due to their barely altered training, but the knowledge that they had the Spec Ops support should help settle the nerves of those remaining in Torrent, giving them a feeling of comfort from their Spec Ops safety net. Kenobi's Ghost Company was to be paired with Windu's clone Regular Marine legion, Charger.

The Torrent, Twi'lek, Immortal amalgamation would be named Chimera for this mission and Skywalker would lead the infield operations, making sure that his men took their objectives and deciding on a course of action to complete said objectives. Windu would lead Bull while Kenobi would lead Phantom, the codename for Ghost and Charger.

Bull would base jump from the tops of the cliffs while Chimera and Phantom would both have to use the tunnels that Cham told us about. The Twi'leks made extensive tunnel systems for all their cities, it was how he and his men got into Kala'din, and had provided maps for Nabat. There was a set of mountain tunnels and a set of tunnels under the city. Foxtrot would use the city tunnels to get closer to their objective.

All that was left to do would be to pick the clone officers that would help me to coordinate this operation. As I would be keeping an eye over everything as a whole I need capable commanders to help manage different parts of the battle at once. Commander Cody would help to direct Phantom and Commander Pond would help direct Bull, due to their connection to the corresponding Jedi. This left it to me to pick a clone commander from the 501st to help direct Chimera.

After seeing him in action and the respect and authority he commanded over the 501st, plus his close friendship to Rex, I used my temporary power to promote Hevy to lieutenant and he would help direct Chimera. I had asked Skywalker for a recommendation, due to his greater knowledge on the 501st, but he had been unhelpful and hadn't supplied a name or recommendation. With the plan set, take the harder guns and the commander before moving onto the rest, and my command help chosen we only had to wait until tomorrow to start the assault. I had chosen 1000 hours for the start but we would have to move at around 0845 to get into position in time. The 2 tank columns and the AT-RT column, Lightning Squadron, would help to protect the Kala'din and deal with any reinforcements or incoming armour as and when needed. They were already in positions at the mouths of the passes due to them not being able to enter the city. We had also made repair to the damaged defences during the Immortals occupation of the rear gate as well as set up heavy AA guns of our own.

Things had gone off to a good start. Windu and Bull Rancor had quickly taken the first position and freed the Twi'lek captives, directing them to take shelter in the mountain tunnels. Kenobi and Phantom had quickly overwhelmed their position but it was Skywalker and his men that were encountering problems. Skywalker seemed to have a problem taking his orders and directions from Hevy and would start taking his own paths through the mountain. Hevy would constantly try to correct them but Skywalker would only listen when he hit a dead end, which had delayed the assault until he and his men were in position. Once he was final in position, nearly half an hour after our scheduled start, I had called for all groups to sync their assaults. Skywalker, however, had started without everyone else, citing my desire to start at 1000 hours as a reason and he was _only trying to make up lost time_. This left Bull, Phantom and Foxtrot having to rush their starts just so Skywalkers preemptive start couldn't alert the other positions and make their jobs even more difficult by removing their surprise advantage.

He had, however, proven to be a very capable warrior, dealing with most of the droids himself and quickly freeing the prisoners, but he had rushed ahead of Chimera, leaving them to catch up. He then ordered his men to quickly follow him to the next gun but I had Hevy give orders to Chimera directly and order them to stop and secure their position and lead the Twi'leks into the tunnels, as was the standing order for all units, even Bull and Foxtrot. Due to our lack of air and armour support I had made the decision that once a position was taken that a small force was to be left behind to secure it. We had also tried to leave as many guns intact as we could so we could use them against any Separatist air support they might send. While Skywalker rushed off I had his men follow their orders and repurpose the guns.

'Hevy, Chimera needs a new infield officer. Who would you recommend?' Hevy took a second to think.

'I haven't really thought about it before but Echo is a fair commander, good at directing larger groups, but he lacks any real creativity to adapt if something goes wrong. Fives has a good mind for finding solutions to problems but tends to lose himself when the fighting starts, focusing more on the fight in front of him then the fight as a whole, though he does well at directing smaller squads. Either would be a good choice.' I nodded.

'Tell them they have both been promoted to Sergeant. Echo has command but Fives will offer tactical advice when needed.' He quickly relayed the orders and Echo had been become our new point of contact for Chimera.

Reports were coming in that the guns had been taken by Phantom and Bull Rancor but Foxtrot seemed to encounter more resistance than previously believed. Windu and Bull were sent to reinforce them and to take any overlook positions they could, due to their Jump Jets.

Phantom was on standby as Chimera reorganised and secured their guns. Once ready they both moved onto their next targets. Cody and Hevy went about directing them through the underground, city tunnels so that they could bypass the defences at their secondary positions. As this was happening our scout teams reported that enemy armour was coming from Lessu. I took command personally.

'Lightning Squadron, move to sector 225 and begin assault on enemy armour, slow them down for Carnivore to get into position. Carnivore move to sector 215 and set up on the hills. Lightning will disengage before your attack. Golem, spread to cover Carnivores current defensive position.' Carnivore was the AT-TE armoured column for the 501st while Golem was the AT-TE column for the 212th. The 212th were the more experienced members so they would protect the city until Lightning's return. Carnivore were better at ambushes so were a good choice to take the enemies Lightning is keeping occupied.

As for why Carnivore was moving to 215 and not 226 or 224 was because our map system used a 10x10 grid to cover different sectors of a planet. Nabat was located in the third sector, which covered from sector 201 - sector 300. This put sector 215 to the sector on the left of 225 and 226 was the sector under with 224 above, the sector numbers going down instead of across.

Kenobi had reported the start of his assault with Phantom while Chimera was reporting that Skywalker had already destroyed the droids at their location and that he was freeing the prisoners. Chimera was ordered to assist before securing the position, even if Skywalker ran off again. I also had Hevy remind them Echo and Fives now had command. It seems I was fortunate to remind them as Skywalker had tried to take Chimera after the last gun. After being informed by Echo that he was no longer in command Skywalker demanded to speak to Hevy but I had Hevy transfer him to me.

'Hevy. What is the meaning of this?'

'I gave the order to put Echo and Fives in charge after you failed your command.'

' _Spartan_.' His growl was audible over the comms. 'You have no right to do that.'

'I have every right. You had orders to secure the gun positions and you failed to complete this. You were to follow my directive during this mission and you didn't, so I removed you from command.' We argued back and forth, him saying that it made more sense to get rid of the droids a quickly as possible to free the Twi'leks while I reasoned that we could take our time with the droids but if we didn't secure those guns the Separatists could destroy us with their Vulture and Hyena bombers. He then made the claim that it was pointless as they hadn't sent any at all so it was a wasted effort. I countered by saying that just because they hadn't done something didn't mean the possibility wasn't there and that just because they didn't do something didn't mean we should have take the precautions against it in the first place but he wouldn't listen. He kept saying that because the Separatists hadn't sent air support I was wrong. I cut off comms with him but not before reminding him he was no longer in charge of Chimera.

We took the guns in _case_ of air support, not because we knew it was coming. That meant Skywalker had no right to justify himself for not securing the guns with the fact that the droids hadn't sent fighters or bombers. He hadn't known that at the time of making his decision, which meant he should take the guns to ensure that his men were protected from that possibility, in case it happened not because it would happen.

Skywalker made plans that needed to happen exactly as he had planned otherwise they would fall apart as he hadn't made plans for anything to deviate from its course. I had no respect for a commander like that.

Windu had just reported that Bull and Foxtrot had taken the central gun and destroyed the Tactical droid. This came around the same time as Kenobi reporting his success. I then had Cody prep the Gunships to bring Chimera back to Kala'din along with Skywalker. Windu and Kenobi were to help take the last gun. Chimera had done more than enough so deserved to rest while I wanted Skywalker in the city to ensure he didn't interfere any more than he already had.

Windus new group, Bull and Foxtrot, had been renamed to Predator and had been sent with Phantom to take the last gun. Chimera was to rendezvous at the city centre for extraction along with Skywalker. We were waiting less than 15 minutes before we had confirmation from Windu that the last gun was secure. Cody then sent Gunships to secure Chimera for extraction.

Carnivore reported that they had reached position during our wait for the capture of the last gun position so I recalled Lightning and sent Carnivore to deal with the enemy armour, which they dealt with swiftly. Droid armour columns consisted of a very strict formation. AAT's at the front, so nothing was in their line of sight; Magna Octuptarra, due to their size allowing them to fire over the AAT's; Halfire Droids, due to their rockets being able to fly over or around the Octuptarra; with MTT's at the back due to their low fire capabilities and to protect the troops inside. Carnivore had gone for a 2 pronged assault and fired on the more valuable targets first.

First, a group rounded the hill as the column was passing by and fired on the MTT's, as the most vulnerable targets and to eliminate any ground reinforcements. Due to being behind the column, and the Halfires missiles having a slow and wide banking arc, only the Octuptarra could fire on the flanking force. Due to the strict unit cohesion of the column the Halfire and AAT's were having a hard time turning and getting into position. This is were the second phase came in. After the Octuptarra started to fire the rest of Carnivore would crest the hill and fire on them. This would leave the Halfire and AAT's out of any firing arc, only now the new group was within line of sight of the AAT's who no longer had to move to fire a shot. The AAT took aim at the new group of AT-TE's who turn to face them in turn. The original Carnivore group took aim at the Halfire droids, that were now finishing their manoeuvring. We only took a few casualties before the column was wiped out in its entirety and Carnivore was recalled.

This left only Lessu as the last Separatist stronghold but due to its position on an isolated, island like pillar it had no tunnels we could use. It had less anti air guns so I was willing to risk a joint land and air assault.

Due to the close proximity of Lessu and Nabat I wanted to take it as soon as possible so, as soon as Chimera was back in the city, without Skywalker who was disobeying orders, I gave everyone half an hour to rest and refuel before we started an assault on the city. Cham came to see me during this time to ask to be a part of the assault on Lessu, wishing for the Twi'leks to help retake their Capital. I agreed and they would transfer back to Nabat and would join Kenobis ground assault when the time came.

My plan was a simple ground rush with limited air bombardment before landing the Gunships. Windu was to take the lightbridge that would allow our troops access to Lessu while Kenobi would land with the Twi'lek rebels and Phantom inside the city via Gunship. I decided that Admiral Yularen, on the Negotiator, and one Acclamator would help in this assault as what limited AA the city shouldn't be able to penetrate their shields. They would target key enemy positions and perform aerial bombardment to eliminate them before our gunships landed in the city. Cham wouldn't be too happy but we would need to get rid of those guns as soon as possible to help take the city today, freeing his people faster and ensuring we could capture Wat Tambor before he fled. Cham reluctantly agreed and so we had half an hour to refuel the Gunships. The city was filled with only Separatists anyway, after the multiple Twi'lek massacres culled the population of the planet. Lessu was the first to experience Separatist hospitality.

Windu would travel with Predator, Carnivore and Lightning to Lessu. Once in position the Acclamator and Venator would be sent towards the city along with Kenobi's Gunships to perform their aerial raids and landings. Windu was to take the city and said he had an idea of what to do about the bridge so I left him to it. Due to their groups expanding the air units were codenamed Shriek Hawk while Windus ground forces were named Krayt.

Krayt ran into a bit of trouble when a group of AAT's ambushed them on a canyon pass but Windu took care of it quickly with little loss, around 3 AT-TE and 32 men by his report, and encountered no more resistance along the way. Once in position Kyrat started their run and Shriek Hawk was up in the air and on their way.

Windu used his tried and tested charge assault to take the bridge by having Lightning charge the bridge. Some had been lost upon bridge deactivation but they quickly took the control room and brought the rest of Krayt over to storm the city.

As Krayt moved into the city Shriek Hawk was beginning its bombardment and was landing it's Gunships. They landed at the area that had just held the droid fighters and bombers before their deployment. Wat Tambor, in seeming desperation, ordered all his air units against Shriek Hawk. Most were shot down by Gunship and fighters but those that made it to the Venator and Acclamator were dealt with quickly by the point defences. Phantom and the Rebels were quickly offloaded before the Gunships were back in the air.

Kenobi and Cham quickly secured the Palace and Tambor with it. They sent their men out to deal with the rest of the droids. Fighting finally ended just as the sun was coming back over the horizon. We had been fighting for over 20 hours, on and off, which was a lot to ask but the men had handled it brilliantly. In a single day we had taken 2 cities, a Separatists leader and a planet, not bad if I do say so myself.

I congratulated Cody, Ponds and Hevy before moving onto Kenobi, Cham and Windu. I hadn't bothered to check on Skywalker and with the battle over he no longer mattered. We were restricted to the planet for 3 days as we waited for the rest of the 212th and 501st fleet to arrive along with a new fleet for Windu and his men. We were also to be relieved by a General Ima Gun Di and the 617th attack battalion, who would take over the defence of Ryloth alongside Cham.

Once those 3 days were up the 187th, the 212th, the 501st and I were redirected back to Coruscant for a personal debriefing with the Chancellor. It seems it was time for him to decide what he wanted to do with me.


	22. Chapter 22

Anakin POV

Once on Coruscant we were all brought before the Chancellor to be assessed. Ahsoka was praised on her skill and daring when breaking the blockade and the subsequent clean up operation. Her results and the praise heaped on her by Yularen had resulted in a medal for the girl for her service to the people of Ryloth and the Republic. He had made special mention to her grand use of tactics as well as her level headed approach to combat, well deserving of the medal of valour according to the Chancellor

Obi-wan, Windu and I also received praise for our actions on the planet but didn't receive any medal or reward. We were each praised in turn for our leadership skills and our physical prowess, with the Chancellor asking us to keep up the good work.

Finally, it was the Master Chief's turn, I was looking forward to it.

The Chancellor started of slowly, first by saying that he didn't condone the steps the Spartan had taken at either stage of the Kala'din offensive, when he stole _my_ men, but that he hadn't technically done anything wrong, only that he had been underhanded in his approach. Okay… That was technically true, but he still undermined my command. The Chancellor then went on to PRAISE him on his swift actions at Kala'din and then went on to talk about how he was impressed by his bold plans that resulted in the swift occupation of Nabat and Lessu, all within a single day. As a reward, and in recognition of his skill, the Chancellor promoted him to Command Petty Officer Master Chief, a rank **equal** to that of a General or Admiral, and that his promotion would come with his own battalion and fleet when one became available.

This couldn't be happening. He was supposed to be **punished** _not_ rewarded. This couldn't be happening. The Chancellor dismissed us at that and sent us out. I was starting to storm out of the room when Obi-wan and Windu then requested an audience with Ahsoka and I, taking us to a small private meeting room. We didn't come across a private office so we used one of the senate pods, as they were all equipped with state of the art sound dampeners until a button was pressed to activate the speakers.

'After the events on Ryloth it has been decided that Ahsoka will no longer be under your care.

'Now, this isn't a punishment, we just feel that you aren't coping well with all the add pressure you have been placed under over the past few months. You haven't had time to adjust and the council feels that it is best you get use to a smaller set of responsibilities before giving you any more. If you wish to request to teach another Padawan you can at a later time, but for now we want you to get used to this level of responsibility so as to not overwhelm you.' No, no, no. They can't do this to me. Was I not strong enough for them? Ryloth, it didn't mean anything, he wasn't better than me, _he wasn't_. Just because he got a promotion doesn't mean I should get, what was essentially, a demotion, from teacher back to Jedi Knight.

Then they said I was to take a meditation retreat for the next two weeks. Oh sure, they justified it by saying it was to give the injured of my battalion time to recover and to refill the ranks of the 501st, justified it by saying I needed time to recenter myself in the force, but I knew they were just doing it to take me out of the war. I was getting too strong for them to handle, yeah that was it. I wasn't weak but too strong and they were limiting my influence, by taking away Ahsoka, as a way to try and control me. When I asked who would become Ahsoka's new Master, Obi-wan said he would take over her training.

So even my Master had betrayed me. Right after the Chancellors and the Jedi Councils. I needed to get out of here so I left without saying a word to any of them.

My comm started to chime so I answered it, what else could go wrong. It was the Chancellor, and he was asking for a private audience with me so he could explain himself. I turned and made my way to his office, you don't just refuse the Chancellor without good reason. I chimed his door and he opened it for me.

'Chancellor.' I was being marginally frosty with him, usually I used his first name when we were alone together and not on important business.

'I hope my decision hasn't ruined our friendship.' Now I felt marginally guilty.

'No. I just had some bad news recently.' I then went on to explain what the council had just done, removing my Padawan from me and then taking me away from the war.

'I see. Well, I can't change their decisions, but perhaps you should use this time to spend some time with your wife. She must be missing you dearly.' I spluttered out a denial but the small smile on his face told me I wasn't fooling anyone. He then moved onto the topic at hand. The promotion of the Master Chief. He explained that by giving him his own troops to command that he would then be unable to undermine my, or anyone's, command again as he would have his own troops to use. It would also bring him more under the Chancellor's influence. While he would still technically be under ONI's command, the fact that he was using troops under the Chancellors influence would give his words more weight than Halsey's over what the Master Chief could and couldn't do. His promotion was really a restriction of his power and influence, how clever.

Sheev then gave me an offer. He said that the events of Ryloth had highlighted that the 501st were more loyal towards the Master Chief than to me. He then went on to explain that he wanted to give command of the 501st to the Master Chief to limit his influence to a single battalion rather than to two, or possibly more. In return for my sacrifice I would command a new set of troops that would had little to no Mandalorian influence and, while they had lower combat scores, would never betray me and would be eternally loyal to me and my new Admiral.

Sheev then said that these troops had grown up in isolation from the rest of the Mandalorian clones and had stricter loyalty training, more in keeping with the training Jango Fett had wanted for the clones. My new division, if I accepted, would be named Kyrat Battalion and would be the size of two full battalions, giving me command of the single largest force with the whole army. Not only would I get the loyal troops that I had wanted, I would limit the Spartans influence, give him a battalion that had been significantly reduced and was in dire need of new, inexperienced, clones and I would also have command over the largest singular force within the Republic. I agreed immediately. I thanked Sheev profusely, he had come through for me again. Even when I thought he had abandoned me he was looking out for me, unlike some people I could name.

I immediately rushed to tell Padme. I was given a new, better, command and I had a full 2 weeks to spend with her.

She turned out to be less than enthusiastic. She had been slightly cold with me after our disagreement on Naboo. I have been trying to look out for her but she just wasn't having it. I then tried to get her to come on a vacation with me but she said she had an important bill for the senate. Was I not important to her, or was it just that this was more important? She then went on to say how she only had a set amount of time to pass her bill and we could go after, that neither her work at the senate nor her love for me was more important than the other. Just one more betrayal on a long list of them today.

Fine I see how it is. I decided to leave her to her _oh so important_ work and made my way back to Sheev, he was the only one who hadn't abandoned me. After explaining the situation to him he asked if I would like to instead spend the next two weeks learning some new Force techniques from him. I agreed immediately and we spent the next few hours talking about different Force techniques, their strengths and weaknesses, with a promise on a lesson on how to perform some of them over our next two weeks together.

We were interrupted from our discussion by the lights in the senate building going out and because the Chancellor received a message from a bounty hunter who explained that he had taken some Senators hostage. The bounty hunter then made special mention that he had taken the Senator for Naboo as one of his hostages, Sheevs home world. The message then cut out with the bounty hunter requesting for Ziro the Hutt to be freed.

I moved to open the door to rescue Padme but Sheev stopped me.

'Anakin, wait. Perhaps it is best to let the proper authorities handle this.' I argued that I should be the one to rescue Padme.

'Perhaps. But, did she not already make her choice. If she had gone with you then she would not be in this situation. Let her know what happens to her if you are not there to save her, teach her a lesson in what it means to betray and abandon you.' He was right. This wouldn't have happened if she had just come with me. But she didn't and this was the result. Lets see what she thinks about abandoning me again after this. Sheev and I then carried on our previous talk about the Force, trusting that the authorities would free Padme but not before she learned her lesson. That she _needed_ me.

* * *

Halsey POV

I was waiting for my bi-monthly meeting with the Chancellor. Currently he was discussing the performance of those on Ryloth. We had discuss in length about what was to be done with John and I had agreed with the Chancellor's decision to give him a command, promoting his profile in the eyes of the clones, the Spartans and the galaxy as a whole. I had asked that the Chancellor keep the 501st in mind when deciding on John's new battalion, he had a rapport with the men and spoke highly of the Captain there. This, combined with Skywalkers weakening hold on the battalion, allowed for a unique opportunity for John to take command. The Chancellor said he would keep it in mind.

Currently I was waiting for his meeting with John to end on the chairs outside the Chancellor's office. I didn't have to wait long before the Jedi left. Skywalker was moving swiftly with the others close behind, asking to talk with him and the young girl. John came out as they moved off and I went to give him a quick congratulations on the promotion while telling him how proud I was of him. And I was, I was proud of all the Spartans but John and Cortana most of all. It was also fun to see how out of place John was without his armour, shifting his stance like he was trying to cover up. Oh sure, they were very small shifts but I knew my children like no other and I could see it all. John was out of his armour as the Chancellor had classed it as a weapon and no weapons were allowed inside the senate building without the Chancellors permission.

After saying goodbye I went to have my meeting with the Chancellor. It was around 15 minutes as there wasn't much to add, he had been kept up to date due to the fact that a lot of ONI's recent attention was on the Ryloth campaign. I asked about his consideration for the 501st and John's new battalion and Palpatine mention he would be speaking to Skywalker as soon as we were done. I thanked him for his time and left.

I had been coming to Coruscant every 2 months to deliver a report to the Chancellor but this was by far the shortest meeting with him, which gave me plenty of time to achieve my secondary objective. Every time I arrived at the senate building I would spend around an hour or two bugging the offices that belonged to various different senators, mainly those with ties or suspected ties to the Separatists but I had bugged many Republic Senators as well. With an inordinate amount of free time I could bug many more offices. I had been compiling the information for later use.

After many hours I was returning to my ship to head back to Kamino when I stumbled across a meeting happening in one of the halls. It seemed an odd place for a meeting but I wasn't a senator so I didn't really care. From the recordings I made of the senators a lot of them were either incompetent or crazy, most of the rest were only doing things that would increase their own influence, while a very small percentage were actually doing this because they truly believed in the system of Democracy. They were fools. The Republic was one of the most corrupt systems ever, during all of its various iterations, unlike the Mandalorian system of government of a single Mandalore. A Mandalore who was corrupt didn't stay Mandalore for long.

Due to the absolute power the Mandalore had they could make whatever chances they needed without having to go through any red tape. The House leaders acted as advisers and tried to implement the Mandalore's will as feasibly possible and to sort out all of the logistical or economic problems to achieve the will of the Mandalore. If the Mandalore didn't work in the interests of all the people of Mandalore then they would be voted out by the House leaders. If the House leaders became corrupt then their vassal Clans leaders would vote them out of power and if a Clan leader became corrupt his Clan would vote him out of power. Those who remained in office long enough could name the successor they felt was best up for the job, but if they proved unfit they too could be removed. This meant the people in charge had the power to do what was necessary but could still lose that power if they abused it. If they refused to give up that power after being voted out of power, well, we were a warrior society for a reason and we would take steps to remove them. Power could also switch hands over a one on one duel, but the victor could still be voted out if necessary. This system stopped corruption, or at the very least isolated it to stop its spread, making it a damn sight better than this democracy. I suppose the best way to describe the Mandalore government system would be a Democratic Dictatorship. Of course this was all moot now that the New Mandalorians were in charge and the Duchess modelled our new system after the Senate due to her learning politics on Coruscant but when a Mandalore was declared it would be a quick reversal, just with a fair bit of spring cleaning of men in power. The Duchess had no right to complain about any snakes in her court as she was the one who protected them.

As I was leaving the hall a door opened and several bounty hunter walked in. They corralled us all into the centre of the room before a foolish senator decided to call their non-existent bluff and was gunned down for it, they hadn't just strolled into the building without firing a shot, meaning they were serious about this. One of the bounty hunters then made a call to the Chancellor asking for Ziro the Hutt to be released. Separatists then. Ziro was in league with Dooku and he must have finally decided Ziro hadlearnt his lesson, choosing now to free him.

'You won't get away with this.' The lead bounty hunter, a Duros male, turned to me.

'And why is that?' He sounded amused. He wouldn't stay that way. I pressed the emergency beacon on my wrist that sends an intergalactic signal to ONI headquarters and every single Spartan. John would receive the signal and come for me.

'Because my son is on the planet and he will come for me.' The bounty hunter let out a laugh.

'I have just kidnapped several high ranking members of the Senate in the heart of the senate building and I should be worried about your son?' He brushed me off at that and went about collecting all of the communication devices from us starting with me, just in case I wanted to call my son. My wristband only had a button on it, no flashing lights or beeping noises, so as to hide it for exactly this reason. Now all that was left to do was wait for John. He would never abandon his mother, he loved me too much, as much as I loved him.

* * *

John POV

After saying goodbye to Halsey I travelled to the military hospital on Coruscant. The troops from Ryloth that were stable enough were transferred to Coruscant while the more unstable, but equally critical, wounded were sent to a closer medical station. This was in part due to the Acclamators and Venators not being able to dock with the med stations and in part due to the fact that the ships were in need of repairs. Due to the troops stable condition they could be safely transferred to Coruscant without worry of them dying on the way. The ships would also be repaired on Coruscant. Very few planets had the high end medical facility these wounded needed or the high end repair station for the ships, making Coruscant one of only a few choices for them to dock at without having to make two trips and wasting time. I was going to the hospital to check in with Captain Rex. He was one of the troopers transferred here and it would be good to see him again.

I asked for him at the front desk and the nurse stuttered out a room number. Cortana had chimed in saying that it was probably due to me towering over the poor women I had a special ear piece so as to allow her to talk to me outside of my armour. It had originally been designed for undercover ONI operatives so as not to give themselves away when reporting on, or to just turn the ear piece on and record a conversation. Upon entering the Captain's room I noticed he was accompanied by Hevy who was wearing his newly painted armour to signal his new rank.

Hevy shot out of his seat to give me salute which I returned and told him he could be at ease. He didn't sit back down and instead offered me his seat. I declined, it probably wouldn't hold me anyway. I asked the Captain how he was doing and he said he felt like new, making a joke about how that was actually partly true and lifted his new arm. Hevy let out a snort.

'Let's hope that these are the only new parts.' The Captain gave me a big smile and a gentle salute saying _yes sir_. Cortana chimed in again, mocking my banter with the Captain, and saying that she was so happy I was making friends, I decided to ignore her. The Captain went on to thank me for helping Torrent out on Ryloth, explaining that Hevy had filled him in. He looked understandably upset just thinking about it but his trust in his commanding officer had been shattered in the worst way possible, by not only being betrayed but actually shot in the back as well. Though we could get technical and say it was the side, rather than the back, and that he wasn't so much shot as thrown into an explosion, but the principle was the same and it did actually happen in a physical sense rather than a metaphorical one.

Hevy moved the subject to a lighter one, my meeting with the Chancellor. I went on to explain how Commander Tano had received a medal for her efforts, and that it was well earned. Her skill at Navy combat was to be commended, the Captain looked to be especially happy to hear this. I then talked about the fact that I received a promotion and would soon be assigned command of a battalion, this brought forth some congratulations from the pair. I finally moved onto the praise the 3 Generals got from the Chancellor.

'Praise?! He stabbed us in the back and he was **praised**. No reprimand either! What kind of BULLSHIT is that?' Hevy seemed to be especially worked up about the Chancellor's assessment of Skywalker. His rantings were stopped short by a shout of his name by Rex.

'That's enough. I told you before that he had the Chancellor's ear and this is what that means. You can't change it, I can't change it and the Chief can't change it but we do have to live with it.' Hevy slumped into the seat.

Just then the comm on my arm started to flash. Halsey was in trouble. Hevy asked me what it was and I explained it was the signal received from Dr. Halsey's distress beacon. I contacted Cortana for a location and she said Halsey was in the east wing of the Senate building. Hevy announced he was coming with me and I nodded my agreement. Rex then lifted his sheets and swung himself onto the side of the bed.

'I'm coming too!' His tone left no room for argument but Hevy tried anyway.

'Sir, you are in no condition to fight. You haven't even finished you rehabilitation to get use to either your arm or your eye.' The Captain reaffirmed his stance too Hevy and I gave Rex a slight nod, accepting his decision. We made our way out of the hospital despite the protests of the nurse at the desk, who only made a token effort anyway, probably due to being intimidated by me according to Cortana.

We made our way onto the Pelican that I had parked on the hospital landing platform and I gave the Captain some of my spare, civilian, cloths for him to put on with Hevy's help as I piloted us to the Senate building. I set us down on the landing platform where a pair of Senate Commandos came to greet us. I entered the hold and grabbed a DMR, handing Hevy my assault rifle and the Captain the Magnum and SMG, he seemed capable of dual wielding both at once, his prosthetic would ensure he could handle the higher recoil of the SMG while also keeping his aim steady, despite using one hand. We exited the Pelican to talk with the two guards.

'I'm sorry sir, but I have to ask you to leave.' I asked them about the situation here but they just kept insisting I leave, by order of the Chancellor. I told them that I was under ONI's command not the Chancellor and they said that ONI was working on the problem and that no one else was allowed inside, by order of Director Halsey herself. If that was true she would deactivated her distress beacon.

I slammed the but of my DMR into the face of one before elbowing the other to the floor, delivering head shots to both as they lay there. Hevy removed their helmets to show Commando droids underneath. I reminded them to hold fire and only shoot if they were sure, we wanted to limit friendly casualties.

We made our way into the building and were using Cortana's directions to make our way to Halsey's location. She directed us up some stairs onto a balcony that overlooked the room. The senators and Halsey were in the centre with the bounty hunters around the edges. Cortana was running face scans of them all but only came back with a few positives. We had Aurra Sing, a Force sensitive turned bounty hunter, who was an excellent marksmen and used her cybernetic augmentations and her limited Force training to help her make difficult shots. We had 2 IG series assassin droids that were specially made to be able to assassins who couldn't be snuck up on due to their rotational limbs. The others were unidentified but that could mean anything.

I ordered Hevy to go and find the security room. The bounty hunters must have taken it to be able to lock down the building as they did, something we managed to bypass due to Cortana's directions and a liberal helping of force to open the occasional door.

Rex moved a bit further down the balcony while I settled into a prone position. I took aim at one of the IG droids as they were currently the biggest known threat. Sing would be hindered by the small space making it harder to take a shot due to the close distance. Just before I took a shot the Duros male in the centre answered a holo communication with another IG series droid. The droid said that they were reaching the prison now. So they were negotiating for someone to be releasd, the Republic would never allow that and would try to stop them at the most opportune time. The Duros seemed to be the leader but that was no indication of skill just who hired the others for this job, they obviously didn't work together.

I fired at the furthest IG droid, hitting it in the head, and moved onto the other droid. I only hit its chest but it still went down. Sing fired off a snap shot at me but I managed to roll out of the way fast enough. I stood quickly and shot Sings rifle, damaging it and ensuring it wouldn't fire. The Duros unholstered his twin blasters and was firing at me with a great degree of accuracy. He activated a pair of jet boots and flew onto the balcony. As he flew up he landed in between me and Rex, allowing Rex to stay undiscovered, which would allow him to free the hostages.

I sprinted into the corridors and the Duros called for Sing to follow him. I took cover at the corner of the hallway to draw out the bounty hunter. As he barrelled into the corridor I fired, narrowly missing his chest and putting a hole in his coat. I took another shot but he was already moving, using his Jet Boots to dodge at different angles. This shot went through his hat.

That seemed to make him more cautious as he immediately took cover. Sing quickly moved into view and I hit her in the shoulder, dropping her to the floor. She was as much a professional as her file suggested as she rolled into cover all the same.

'He's Mandalorian.' Sing was communicating with her leader, passing along information.

'I realised that.' At least the Duros was smart, even if he decided to take senators hostage on Coruscant in the middle of the Senate building. I moved down to the next hallway to draw the pair further from the senators. As I was doing so Hevy commed that he had the security centre locked down and he was working on restoring the power but a pale, male Patrolian was on the loose as well.

I spent the next few minutes moving from hallway to hallway with several near misses on both of them, due to the Duros' Jet Boots and surprising reaction times and Sings Force assisted dodges. I had hit Sings right side stomach area and a grazing shot on the Duros head, taking one of his breathing tubes with it and leaving a gash on his face.

As I was moving to the next corridor I waited for them to move up but they didn't. Listening carefully I heard their footsteps getting further away and the sound of Jet Boots activating. With a quick check on Hevy and Rex, who had reported they were nearly done or escorting the senators out of the building, I gave chase. It was a short one as they had only turned down one of the other hallways and shot out the window at the end. Just as the pair was jumping out onto an awaiting speeder I took aim and hit the Duros in the back. I sprinted to the window and took aim but the bounty hunters were covered by a large Hutt so I shot that instead. I hit it twice in the back before they were out of range though I could still hear the Hutt's screams from here.

As some of the Coruscant Guard caught up to me I informed them that the bounty hunters escaped though two were severely injured. I had no doubt that the three would survive as all were of durable races, the Hutt especially. While Sing and the Duros would survive their wounds they would be in great pain for a long time to come and spend a lot of time with some Bacta on their wounds. The main strengths of their respective species was a heightened reaction time but they were known for being more durable than regular humans, in Duros' this was useful for their exploitative efforts but with this one being a bounty hunter it had allowed him to dodge blaster fire from a sufficient distance. The faster bolts of the DMR really came through as I doubt regular fire would have hit from the other end of some of these hallways, with how long they were.

I made my way to Rex, meeting Hevy there too, out on the landing platform. I would need to take the two to the Coruscant Guard headquarters to make our reports.

* * *

Rex POV

As the Chief drew away two of the bounty hunters I waited until the sound of their fighting was far enough away before taking out the weequay bounty hunter left. Just before she left the tall female thing spoke with the Director, something about being right on time, a sun and Mandalorians, I didn't hear it all very well. Once I was clear I vaulted the railing and dropped into a roll before using the full auto setting on the SMG on the weequay. This arm was already proving its worth as the amount of recoil from the SMG was nearly nothing.

'Well. It seems I have my own knight in shining armour.' I turned to see Senator Chuchi who had a smile on her face. I was surprised she recognised me as I was very non-descript for a clone without my armour on but when asked Riyo only said she just knew me that well.

'No armour I'm afraid but I am still here to rescue you.' Riyo engulfed me in a hug which I returned.

'What happened to your arm? And your eye?'

'Later. Come on, let's get out of here.' I lead the Senators back through the winding path we took to get into the building and ran outside. While I was taking them to the Pelican to wait for the Guard to get there I started to explain to Riyo about what happened on Ryloth and why I needed a new arm.

The Guard arrived sooner than expected and seemed to be under misapprehensions due to the fact they were pointing blasters at me, telling me to put down my weapons and calling me _traitorous scum._ I was about to explain the situation when Riyo jumped in front of me declaring my innocence. The Director stepped in here and informed the troopers of two bounty hunters engaging with the Master Chief. A squad was dispatched into the building to find him.

After a few minutes Hevy came on the comms and said he had the security room unlocked and was just lifting the lock down. He soon joined me on the platform with the Master Chief. During the wait Riyo had asked more about my arm and I explained, in a bit more depth than before, that I was injured during the liberation of Ryloth but had been rescued by the Master Chief and was transferred to Coruscant for treatment. We spent a bit of time catching up but at the Master Chief's arrival we had to go to Coruscant Guard HQ. I promised to call her later and tell her everything that had happened.

* * *

Palpatine POV

After the Guard broke my window I sent Anakin home, assuring him that his wife would meet him their. I examined the Guard, nothing, despite the sensitive information they heard they hadn't moved a muscle or reacted in anyway, even though they knew a Jedi shouldn't have a wife. They were well trained. Other than giving them to trusted commanders I had Lama Su's more loyal troopers trained in riot control and sent to Coruscant to act as my police force. This was to ensure that I was surrounded by only the most loyal of troopers and that their loyalty was mine alone.

After Anakin left I started to read the reports that came in about the progress of Cad Bane and his men. I had Dooku hire him to break Ziro the Hutt out of Republic custody. Ziro had been having a comfortable time in jail due to his willingness to give us information on the Separatists, what little he knew, and the Hutt Clans. Now his usefulness in our care was at an end and Dooku could use him to increase his standing with the Hutts. They would be very keen with having Ziro behind their own bars so he could reveal nothing else. I had Dooku hire Bane as I wished to see him in action as I had another, harder job in mind for him later. It was to do with the Jedi temple but that would have to wait until after his performance was seen. It seems my plans for Bane are to be put on hold, due to his reported injuries. That's okay, the job was never time sensitive anyway.

Only half an hour later I received an incident report from Guard HQ. It appears that the Master Chief along with Clone Lieutenant Hevy and Clone Captain Rex were all on hand to help resolve the situation. They may have been too late to stop it but they performed well, even with one still not clear from medical leave. I decided to call the trio up personally to congratulate them and tell them about my decision to assign the Master Chief command of the 501st. They were to take this next weeks to sort everything out and wait for the rest of their troops. The three seemed excited with this change in command, well at least the clones did. I also told them that all three had been mentioned many times for their skill and bravery and I expect this to continue despite the changes for them all. They all assured me of their continued performance so I let them go. I spent some time pondering the Master Chief and the 501st and decided it was for the best, though that didn't mean I couldn't ensure the deck was stacked just a little more in my favour. I had some additions to make.


	23. Chapter 23

John POV

Stepping onto the bridge I saw the Admiral looking out into space, I moved up next to him.

'It is good to have you aboard sir. I hope that under your command we can continue in a militaristic manner and put an end to this war, that we will not be using luck as a weapon.' We both kept staring out into space despite talking to each other.

'I am afraid I must disappoint then Admiral. Luck is perhaps the greatest weapon one can possess, it can achieve the impossible. I can, however, promise not to rely on it. There is order to war, just as much as there is chaos.' I noticed Yularen nod out of the corner of my eye.

'Well said. Though I must ask, do you prefer General or Commander?'

'Just call me Master Chief.' The Admiral gave a small smile at that.

'Of course sir.'

I moved towards the holotable with the Admiral to assess our first assignment together. We were heading to a planet called Ciutric IV. It was a relatively minor planet in the grand scheme of things but it was a planet with a high industry sector, providing several hundred thousand droids a day along with Tibana gas, mined from the moons, to arm them. It had the minimum amount of troops the CIS used to safeguard their planets and was meant to be an easy first assignment to familiarise myself with the 501st in a more hands on combat situation. The planet has two moons with extensive Tibana operations but I planned to take them after we secured the planet.

The door to the bridge just opened and Captain Rex entered to inform me that everything was ready and we were good to go. Hevy followed soon after with a munitions report, green across the board. The last to enter was my new pilot. The blue hair and lips were as striking as they had always been and she was still just as much a welcome sight as always.

Cortana would never have forgiven me if I didn't allow her the chance to pilot my new flagship, the Xiphos. It was a type of ancient Mandalorian sword that was very common in our earlier years before being replaced by the more widely used Gladius, then eventually the Vibroblade. She would continue all her previous duties as my personal combat support, giving direction, performing logistics and finding information, but would also pilot my flagship, we had to specifically redesign her control station but it was more than worth it. The one thing she could complain about though was that she had no control over the guns, thank the Gods, which was due to the fact it would require a full reworking of the ship's internal systems otherwise I have no doubt she would have found a way to convince me to let her have control of them too.

The Chancellor had actually given me a larger sized fleet, an extra Venator and Acclamator. The Venator was Admiral Yularen's person ship, the Resolute. These extra ships came with an extra legion and an increased fighter wing. The extra fighters were bombers, giving me a 2:1 ratio of bombers to fighters, at my person request, due to the fact that I would prefer those extra bombers due to their dual use for space and ground, against larger ships or any ground target, while fighters were limited in their ground capabilities. The extra legion were of the Chancellor's personal preference of trooper type, Shock troopers. After seeing my cautious approach on Ryloth, taking ground then securing it rather than rushing to get as much ground as possible, the Chancellor thought it best that I use the Shock troopers to secure the taken areas and cities quicker so that I could then use this extra time to take more ground and secure that as well. The Chancellor had named the new legion Storm.

'Cortana. Plot a course.' Cortana had a full grin, very pleased with flying such a big ship. I had her station moved of to the side of the holotable area rather than have it in the bow of the bridge. It wasn't necessary to be there as she wasn't using the viewport to fly but sensor readings, and she was a little safer back here with us.

'Course laid in General 117.' Even wearing a helmet she could tell I was glaring at her out of the corner of my helmet but I doubt that would stop her.

'Punch it.' The stars stretched as we went into rapid acceleration. Once we were in hyperspace the stretched light turned gently into a multitude of colors moving past the viewport. It was kind of peaceful.

I went over our plan with the Admiral, Captain and Lieutenant one more time. First, we would jump into the system and take out the blockade. It was a control ship and 3 frigates, while we had 2 capital and 4 assault ships, allowing us to just force our way passed, focusing fire on the control ship first and then cleaning up the rest. All fighter squadrons would be launched upon entering the system, we shouldn't even need to launch bombers so I was going to save them for the ground assault. This shouldn't take long unless reinforcements arrive and jump into the system.

Next comes the ground assault. Reports show a similar factory setup at all major cities, a large factory with heavy AA gun placements, they also indicate the largest active droid presence around the droid factories but we will have to assume that they could activate the finished factory droids at any moment as a backup, making their presence even larger. This is why I planned a 3 stage assault. First is ODST drop, this means all of Bull Rancor and any ODST's within Torrent company, Hevy's newly promoted squad and the Captain were include, as was myself. ODST's will take out the AA guns surrounding the factories before moving to a safe distance.

Once out of the area bombers will be sent to level the factories. I didn't want to fight the droids in a pitched battle so we would clear as many as we could in the initial bombing. With the factories out, along with most of the droids, we could land Gunships, bringing in Storm to secure the city and the rest of Torrent alongside Carnivore to help deal with the rest of the droids. It was relatively straightforward, knock out the guns, bomb the factories and take the cities. The only problem would be as we move further and further around the planet.

Due to the relatively small size of the planet it shouldn't be more than around 3 days to take the whole thing, then we moved to the moons, but there was no way to take the whole planet in a single go. This means to meet that 3 day deadline we had to fight non-stop, sending all available forces to each city, one after the other. There were 12 cities we needed to hold if we want to take the planet, thanks to Cortana and the rest of Logistics we could have maximum of 6 hours taking each of the key cities, most wouldn't even take that long. This was due to their excellent work in dividing up the troops and their supplies. They had come up with a rotation system that would allow for us to have a constant assault along with having one group of reinforcements available at all times.

All legions were split into 3 even groups, the first would be commanded by Rex, the second Hevy while I had the third. Group 1, code named Alpha, would start their assault on the first target, knock out the guns, bomb the factory and take the city. 3 hours after Alphas start Hevy's Bravo group would start their assault on another location, with another 3 hours before my own assault with Gamma group. This meant that 6 hours after starting Rex's men would have at least 3 hours of rest, most likely more due to the fact most cities should only be a few hours at most, and that if we can keep to a 3 hour rotation schedule we could take the planet in around half the expected time. This also ensured that should anyone need it we always had a reserve group for support. Cortana and the logistics department would assign each group their targets and support when needed along with making sure that no one group was to overworked while making sure everything ran to schedule.

Upon our arrival into the system we immediately engaged the fleet around the planet and in 23 minutes we had destroyed it in its entirety. Rex and Alpha group readied themselves for the first assault and Alpha teams ODST's were launched as soon as we entered high orbit over the planet. Soon bombers were called in and the Gunships were sent. In under 2 and a half hours Rex had finished his first assault so Cortana moved but Hevy's schedule and sent them now, no point waiting to allow the droids time to try and organise themselves. Rex and his men were recalled to the ship while a detachment of Storm Legion was left to occupy the city. Taking a city required a lot of men, holding one only required a fraction of that, so we had a lot of men to spare.

Hevy was up next and his first target took close to 4 hours, meaning I had deployed before he was done. It was as simple as Rex's with just as little actual casualties, just had more droids to deal with. My assault was the longest so far, at just over 5 hours. I had to call in Alpha's Carnivore detachment due to the higher amount of Tanks in the city, though this did turn out to be an isolated event as all the other cities had more manageable numbers.

By the end of the day we had taken 10 of the 12 cities and so I recalled all forces other than the Storm detachments occupying the cities. We were to get a good 8 hours of rest before we continued again, give the men some well deserved rest. Alpha was up first again and we were following the same format as before. Everything was going well until about an hour in and Alpha group had entered the city. Droids don't sleep and the droid commander had used this to their advantage by having the droids lay the city with mines and bombs.

After some heavy initial casualties Rex made a second go at entering the city, using what little bomb troopers he had to clear the streets. Unfortunately most of the droids from the remaining factories had been recalled into the city and I had to recalled Alpha. I needed to change plans but first I needed Bravo to deal with the last droid factory and AA guns near the capital city. After they had finished I recalled them back to the fleet and initiated a bombing run on the Capital, it was safe to say that civilian casualties were significantly higher today than in yesterday's assault.

We targeted key enemy positions, hangars, barracks, communication towers etc., and flattened them all, and the surrounding buildings, before I ordered all ODST's to drop on the capital's main palace. We landed and then stormed the building, our objective was to secure all sources of information, including the droid commander. We quickly took the building and were able to stop several droids who were rigging the building to blow, it seems the commander hadn't anticipated an attack on their position and were only now trying to correct this oversight, but we couldn't find the commander. While this wasn't what we had hoped for it was still expected, and we still found the most crucial piece of information we were looking for, the droid map of the mine fields. The droids would need to know their way around to not set off any mines and so would need a map, with the map we could now take both cities and then disable the mines as we needed.

In just over one and a half days we had taken the planet thanks to the work of both the troopers and the Logistic Division. After securing the last to cities I returned to the Xiphos to contact the Chancellor and tell him of our progress.

'Ah, Master Chief. I was not expecting your call for at least another day. I hope you haven't encountered problems?' I assured him that was not the case so he instead asked me for the reason of my call.

'We have secured the planet, sir, and currently have all major cities occupied. We are eliminating the last of the droid holdouts on the planet but the droid commander has escaped. I am certain they are still in the system and are hiding on one of the moons with the remainder of their forces. The population is being mostly cooperative but the Storm Legion have reported 5 protests and one riot that spread to the rest of the city, reserves have to be sent to reinforce them. Currently I only have around 20% of Storm available for offensive measures, should it be needed. I would like to request an additional legion of Shock troopers, one for occupational use and another for assault purposes.'

'While I am happy to hear about your progress, and that it had exceeded even the best estimates of Military High Command, I am afraid you have misunderstood the purpose of your command over the Storm Legion. You are an assault battalion, not an occupational force. While you have used Storm commendably you were never meant to hold cities. You are to use them to secure ground until reinforcements, units trained for that purpose, can come and hold the cities, allowing you to continue your assault. If necessary you are to leave behind detachments of Storm until they can be relieved and regroup with you. I am sorry, but your request is to be denied.

'That beings said your amazing progress has left us in a somewhat difficult situation as we do not currently have any occupational forces near your location and some will have to be rerouted to your location. Hold the cities for the time being but remember this is not your job but an isolated incident. Your job is to take the cities and hand them over to a more qualified officer.' I nodded. It seems I had misunderstood our purpose here. Without having a designated occupation battalion assigned to the Ciutric Campaign I had believed the 501st was to act as a temporary occupation force. This was reinforced by the addition of the shock troopers. I believed that we were to take the planet then hold it, at least a few day, until a battalion could relieve us, freeing us to go to another campaign. It seems the reason no occupation battalion was assigned was because none were available.

'Understood sir. Request permission to start the assault on the moons. This Separatists commander has proven themselves to have a complete disregard for civilian casualties. The longer we wait the harder it will be to capture the moons and this commander, along with a far higher casualty rate.'

'Permission granted, I await your written report. I will contact you when an occupation battalion has been chosen to relieve you and when they will arrive.' He ended the call and I started to make preparations after that.

First I would be switching Storm and Bull Rancor to temporarily occupy the cities. It should only be for a few hours but the moons were filled with Tibana mines which meant the ODST's couldn't drop while Storm was trained for close quarters combat, a useful thing in the tight mine shafts. Hevy would oversee Bull's occupation alongside Sergeant Buck, the commander in charge of Bull Rancor. ODST's weren't trained to occupy cities, but to terrorise them, but Hevy had been trained as a Reg who would have all be trained in the basic knowledge on occupations. He would need to direct Bull to adequately handle any situations that arise.

Rex would take half of Storm and Torrent, while I take the other half, and he will assault one moon as I assault the other. Normally I would assign code names to these types of mixed groups to ensure there was no confusion as to who was being addressed but with the Captain and I operating in different theatres, on different moons, there was no need as there would be no chance of confusion. All the settlements on the moons were mining settlements which meant we only needed to clear the mines to take the settlements. Before we left I asked Cortana to start the report on the campaigns progress and to send it to Halsey and Chancellor Palpatine.

'So, you get to have some action while I have basically become your secretary, huh? Though I suppose I can get some action later, hey John.' She had a teasing grin on her face.

'I would have called you a maid, not a secretary, but that would require you to actually clean for once, instead of leaving me to do it. And you'll get plenty of action later.' Her sly smile was back in full force, she must really enjoy space skirmishes and battles.

'Is that a promise?'

'Of course. As soon as we get a new campaign we will need to engage in space combat. You will have plenty then.' Cortana just sighed. I get her frustration, unfortunately she would just have to wait will I finished here.

'That isn't what I… You know what, never mind.' I was confused but decided to leave it at that.

Upon landing on the moon I immediately marched to the closest mine and ordered Storm to enter the tunnels. We had limited droid resistance during the initial tunnels but there was a significant increase the further in we went. More and more B-1's and 2's were streaming towards us as we tried to hold them off to the best of our abilities. But their numbers were too large for us to overwhelm them in such a tight space. I ordered us to make a steady fighting retreat back to a crossroad section of the tunnels. Moving behind the crossroads we reset our defensive lines and wait for the droids to advance. We they entered the middle of the crossroad secondary teams opened fire from down the sides, mowing through them.

As we had destroy the droid control ship, and taken down their planetside computers, the droids could only follow a limited set of commands. Their fragmented personality matrix would give them some independent thought but not enough for critical thinking. This meant that despite knowing about the ambush they still walked into it. We finished them off quickly and were about to continue when a shout came from one of the other tunnels. I rushed down to the sound and found the reason for the shouting. The clones clearing some of the other tunnels were being decimated by Dwarf Spider droids.

Dwarf Spiders were used before the clone wars even began by the Commerce Guild. The Guild had a vast mining empire and provided much of the materials for the droid army. These mines were run very strictly, hence the lack of any true opposition from the local populace, they were fed up of Confederacy rule. To put down any miner rebellions the Commerce Guild helped to create the Dwarf Spiders. They only had the frontal cannon for armament but it could change its rate of fire, which would also increase or decrease the punch it packed as well. It was lightly armoured and were easy to destroy, if you could flank it. They were made to be used in mines and were devastating in such tight, and close, quarters. Another, accidental, feature was that they exploded upon deactivation, which usually wasn't a problem, but with us being in a mine shaft a cave in was a real possibility if that happened.

I rushed in front of the troopers to draw its fire and carried on running towards it, dodging the bolts. I closed the distance quickly and let loose an uppercut, bending the barrel of its gun. I then kicked off one of its legs, causing it to become unbalanced and fall. Another problem with the Dwarf Spider was that it had very loose wiring, a good push will be enough to knock them out of place. The core would still be on, so it wasn't destroyed, but it would be unable to move, see or fire once its wires were shaken loose, a feature they had yet to fix. I warned all remaining clones to keep their distance and to use droid poppers to knock them out. Hopefully these should also disrupt the unstable core and stop them from exploding. We lost a few more men to some of them before we were finished here but we luckily had no explosions or cave ins, so that was a plus.

We moved onto the different mines around the moon before finally locating the mine where the droid commander was hold up in. We knew it was their hide away as they had rigged the mine full of explosives. Thankfully we didn't need to find this out the hard way due to the help of a local boy. He had explained that his family were miners and lived here. Everyone had been ordered into the mines by the Overseer, the Confedarcy commander. The boy had hidden because he hadn't wanted to work any more and felt he wouldn't be missed if he snuck away. While hiding he noticed that some of the droids were planting mines at the entrance. I thanked him for his assistance but all he asked was I save his family. I told him I would try.

We were making slow progress but progress all the same. We had been taking time to disable all the explosives we could find along the way in case we needed to make a quick exit. We fanned out more before we saw the first signs of the civilians. They were tied to rock pillars in an open room, they also had their mouths taped shut. I ordered all squads to approach with caution and to look for any explosives and disable them before freeing the civilians and escorting them out. Just as we were about to enter the room the boy from before ran past me, screaming for his mother, the woman tied to the pillar. Her voice was muffled but it was clear she was telling the boy to run, and she didn't mean towards her.

'Kid. Wait.' I stretched out my hand but had only take a step before an explosion sent me to my back. The kid flew over my head and I watched him pass over me. While watching him fly over head I noticed cracks spreading across the ceiling so I rushed to my feet and jumped over the boy to cover him with my body. Rocks fell from the ceiling and came crashing on top of me.

Once the vibrations stopped I stood up and pushed the rocks off of me. I looked down to the boy. He had extensive burns all over his left side and his left arm was crushed under a boulder. His eyes were wide open and he was shaking slightly, most likely in shock. Looking again I noticed it looked like he had flash blindness, also known as arc eye. This meant his eyes were fine, undamaged by the explosion, despite the burns around it, but not his retina's. They had been burned by the intensity of the blast and resulted in blindness, this would most likely be temporary, a few seconds to a minute at most, but there was a chance it could be permanent.

While I was looking over the kid several Dwarf Spiders were moving to our position from the room the civilians had been held in. I had lost my gun at some point so I rushed the first and kicked off the wall to get behind it. I punched the second in the eye and pulled out the wiring in its receptors before dropping into a spin kick to take out the back legs of the first. I vaulted the first droid I disabled and dodged a bolt from the third Spider, which hit the second, though it didn't set of the droid. I grabbed this one by the barrel and swung it into the final droid before I jumped backwards, into the hallway, tucking into a roll and covering the kid again. The pair exploded but it was contained in the room and the cave in was limited to the room as well. Some of the other clones had finally arrived at our location.

'Mixer, get the kid out of here. Jumper, round up a squad and uncover any wounded and get them out of here. Rebury the dead.' I moved the rocks off the kids arm and watched as Mixer picked him up. The kids arm was waving in a very abnormal manner, it looked to be a very serious break. I then opened comms to the rest of the troopers.

'All units be advised, civilians confirmed booby trapped. Trip wires at room entrances, approach with caution. Do not engage Separatist commander, kill on sight from safe distance.' I wasn't going to risk any men taking this one alive.

By the time we were done I never saw the commander as another squad had executed them. We had recovered most of the civilians but a few squads had triggered the wires and we lost some men and all the civilians at those locations. It was, thankfully the last holdout and we were done in about an hour before we returned to the fleet.

The first thing I did was report to the Chancellor from the nearest communication station. I explained what had happened with the promise of a full written report in the next few hours. My next call was to Halsey to report my progress and inform her of our situation. She took it all in with her usual calm. She thanked me for my report and ended the call, getting back to her work. My finally call was to Rex, who had finished before me, to sort out how we were going to rotate the occupational force for the remainder of our time here before heading to the bridge.

Upon entering the bridge Captain Rex stated that he could do this without me if I needed to take a break, a comment about my soot and dirt covered armour. I informed him I was fine but Yularen chimed in that, as this was his ship, technically, he could order me and I would have to follow that order. I cautiously agreed with his statement, at which point he ordered me to get some rest, after heading to the infirmary for a check up. Only now seeing the, admittedly blatant, trap I was left with no choice but to comply and made my way to get a check up.

After spending over 15 minutes manually taking off my armour I was getting my check up and being given a clean bill of health, an unsurprising assessment. I started putting back on my armour before I decided to check on the boy from the tunnels.

After finding where he was being kept I entered his room to see his left side in full Bacta wraps. The cover dipped sooner than it should on his left side, meaning his arm had to be amputated. I looked at his chart to see the full extent of his injuries. His entire arm had to be amputated due to it being basically useless. The bones had been crushed and some had become bone dust which was causing major internal damage to his arm, he would never move it again, so it was amputated. His left eye was also permanently blind due to the intensity of the blast and he was fortunate enough to have his right one working at all. Extensive burns all up his left side but he was relatively clear on the right, with what ever was there healing well.

The boy was awake when I entered so I asked how he was doing. Not well but that was to be expected. I apologised for not being able to rescue his family but he only blamed himself. He was just a boy, one trained to be a miner at that, while I was the soldier, born and raised thanks to being from House Viszla. I should have been better, I should have been able to stop the boy and then rescue his family. But I wasn't, and that failure was mine.

This situation reminded me that I needed to get better. I needed to be faster, stronger, smarter. I needed to be more. The only problem was I didn't know how. Sure I could Master Vaapad but I was well on my way to doing so already. I could increase my training but this war was already pushing me, only allowing me to make steady improvement. I needed something else, something more drastic. But what I didn't know. I would have to speak to Halsey.

'What happens now?' With his family gone it was up to him to decide how to live his life. He told me he had always wanted to be a starfighter pilot but he just looked at his arm, knowing it was impossible now. I told him it would be impossible to join any of the cores, Army or Naval, and that he would never fly a starfighter but that didn't mean he could do something else.

'They have officer academies for young people like yourself. People who, for whatever reason, can't or won't join one of the cores. You would have to prove yourself capable by passing the entrance tests first but you could have a full scholarship by getting a recommendation from a current military officer.' The boy was to depressed to consider the possibility, saying they would never take someone like him, that he would never be good enough.

'I know a lot of people who have suffered injuries kid. Some have even been life altering like yours, and while that may restrict what they can do it doesn't restrict how good they are at doing it. My Captain lost his arm and had to get a prosthetic but he is still one of the best soldiers I have seen. Some of my brothers and sisters have been crippled for life, some can't walk and some can't speak, but they are still far more capable at what they do then any other in their field.' It seemed to help because the boy made me a promise that he would be try to be the best, no, he _would_ be the best, Naval officer he could be. I reminded him that he would need to be accepted first to which he assured me he will. I made to leave the room, telling him I would make the preparations for his entrance test to be taken here, before I remembered to ask for his name.

'Tohm, Laurita Tohm.'

'You can call me the Master Chief.' I would visit him several times before our reinforcements arrived and I had to say goodbye. I looked over his test scores and they were very high, high enough for a scholarship without my recommendation. I had even introduced him to Admiral Yularen and the two got on very well. I also ensured that arrangements were made with Dekuton Pretorius, the Jedi Master sent to relieve me and my men, to send Tohm to the Military Naval Academy on Coruscant. It would be a 2 year program if he took the accelerated course but I had no doubts he would succeed.

* * *

Palpatine POV

I finished the report from the Master Chief and was impressed by him. He was a fair individual that valued people's lives but wasn't above taking them if it meant he could achieve a grander objective, even if the lives he spent were civilians or his own men. That wasn't to say he was comfortable with death, seeing needless death as the ultimate waste, but he would never shy away from doing what needed to be done. This combined with his abilities as a warrior and a commander was turning him into one of the best assets at my disposal. I would need to find a way to limit his effectiveness while also allowing him to perform at the fullest of his capabilities so they wouldn't waste away. This was to ensure that nothing he did could disrupt the delicate balance of the war and end it too quickly, I still had work to do. Once the war has ended, and my take over is complete, I will allow him to operate at full capacity and without restraint.

I also looked over his recent recommendation for a new applicant for the Naval Officer Academy on Coruscant. The boy's scores were very promising and his application photograph showed his recent disfigurement. If the boy could so soon undergo such an experience and still perform so well on a difficult test then he was someone to watch, especially since he seemed to have caught the eye of the Master Chief, who had been sparing with his praise of others but put his full faith into those who had proven themselves worthy of it.

Speaking of prolonging the war, I had to make arrangements to turn the tide again. At the start of the war the Republic had been taking too much ground so I made arrangements to help increase the effectiveness of Grievous' plan to turn the war in favour of the Separatists. With his recent string of successes, and now that we had taken a system as important as Ryloth, we could start turning the tide back towards the Republic. And I knew just where to start.

* * *

Cortana POV

It was nice seeing John so engaged with someone new. Despite his recent injuries Tohm had an air of innocence about him around the Chief, like some sort of hero worship. I had tried to talk to him about it the first time I went to see him but he was blushing too hard to get any sort of straight answer. He looked a little young to be going through puberty but it was flattering all the same.

After John had his first meeting with the kid I met him back in our room. He had me worried when he turned up looking as he did and I just needed to make sure he was okay, of course he was, he was the Master Chief. I think this was the first time it really hit me that I could lose him in this war if he wasn't careful.

'Promise you won't leave me.' If there was one thing about John, that even the people who hate him could agree on, it was that he kept his word. If he said he was going to do something he was going to do it. And if he made a promise, he would move heaven and earth to keep it.

'I promise.' It was the greatest comfort I could even have, knowing he had promised to be with me always. We had different bunks but I couldn't sleep knowing how close he could have been to death today. So, I joined him in his bed and let him wrap me up. We didn't say or do anything, he just held me, comforted me.

I spent the rest of my time working around the ship, Logistics was working over time to cover for the amount of occupational work we were doing, something we were not prepared for, and spending time with the Chief and Tohm. Chief was mingling more and more, becoming more sociable, with the men and the boy but the people, other than me, who took up his most time was Rex and Hevy and then Yularen and Tohm, a seemingly inseparable pair after their introduction and Tohm was back on his feet. Rex, Hevy and the Chief could usually be found on the bridge using the holotable to play Cubikahd or Sabbac with the occasional addition from some of Hevy's friends. Off to the side Tohm and Yularen were bonding over their mutual love of history and talking about military strategies, with the Chief giving half an ear to their conversation and jumping in from time to time. It was perfect. These super soldiers, clones, old admirals and traumatised youths all getting along and having fun, bonding with each other.

This is what it meant to be a Mandalorian. To be the best fighters in the Galaxy but only because we wanted to protect our reason for fighting as best we could. 4 of the 6 tenants of the Resol'nare highlighted the importance of family and working together. Every Mandalorian was a family member to another Mandalorian. Sure, we may fight with each other, some may even hate each other. But what family didn't fight, didn't have disagreements. At the end of the day we were all Mandalorian and we would all fight for each other. And this little scene before me was more proof of that then I had ever seen before.


	24. Chapter 24

Padme POV

Things hadn't exactly been good between us this past week or so, the past few months actually. I think Geonosis, the war, the assassination attempts, everything; made me rush a little in accepting Anakin's proposal. It wasn't that I didn't love him, I did, but we just seemed to be disagreeing more and more recently and just, generally, getting in each other's way.

Take our most recent time together on Naboo. After hearing the story of my close encounter with the assassin droids Ani had gone into full denial mode. He barges into my room asking me to tell him it wasn't true and that _he made it all up_. I had no idea what Ani was talking about and once he explained the Master Chief's tale of the hangar incident I confirmed it. He had saved my life and then made short work of the droids, it was very impressive actually.

I had seen some of what a Jedi could do but never at their full potential. Even at Geonosis I hadn't seen the full capabilities as I was more concerned with not dying then staring in awe at the Jedi. Seeing what the Spartans could do on a moment's notice, the strength and speed they possessed, was breathtaking.

I was aware that Jedi could perform to a similar level but this was only when they augmented themselves, as Ani explained, where as the Spartans were always operating at this level. Knowing that moments earlier he had moved at a speed I was unable to see and that he had used an amount of strength that broke starfighters was only made more impressive now that I knew the amount of control they had over themselves. To, at one moment, use only enough strength to push me to the floor before launching yourself at speeds unseen to the naked eye and using strength enough to dent starfighters was just unimaginable, the switch between such gentleness, for a Spartan, and such ferocity was staggering. Jedi have the same strength and speed as regular people until they augment themselves so it was actually pretty mundane for them to use regular speed and strength. But for a Spartan to do it was just mind boggling and I thought about it often.

Perhaps I had become desensitised to the wonders of the Jedi due to it being all explained to me by Ani, and seeing him use his powers for little more than party tricks when he wanted to show off and impress me. This took out the sense of wonder from it as well as making their abilities seem... kind of cheap. The Spartans, however, only used their full capability when it was called for, making for a far more shocking display, and a far more thrilling one too.

After hearing me confirm the Master Chief's story Ani turned quickly, he was no longer my loving husband but a jealous boyfriend. He had started accusing me of being _emotional_ and _being to delicate to understand the situation properly_ like I was some sort of swooning princess. I may have once been Queen but I had never been like that.

When I stop to think about it a bit more, and our decision to marry so quickly, I can't help but think that maybe we should have spent more time together and reconnected before marrying after such a high stress situation, I may have kept my calm but someone was trying to _kill me_.

I think back on it because Ani always seemed to have a dual opinion of me. When he wasn't around I was to be this tough, no nonsense asskicker who stood up for herself and beat up anyone who said otherwise. When he was around I was to be this sweet, demure damsel for him to rescue. And heavens forbid if someone else rescued me before he or I did because then I was wrong for _letting them rescue me._ He actually said that, back on Naboo, before he seemingly forgot what had just come out of his mouth and said the Master Chief was just making it all up and he hadn't actually rescued me at all. He accusing me of being to emotional to see the truth, that the Chief was just using me to get back at Ani. Never mind the Chief knew nothing of my relationship with Ani or that the story was the _truth_.

When I do stop to think about it I think that perhaps those 10 years apart had to much of an impact on little Ani. He was only 9 when we first met and he immediately called me an angel, enamoured from the beginning. Then he saved me via a podrace, something Qui-gon had told Ani repeatedly that _only he can do_. I had kept my reservations about his chances of winning to myself, not wanting to hurt the little boys feelings, so he must have built up this little fantasy that he was my saviour and that I fell in love with him for being my hero, creating his own little story with him as the hero, as little boys are wont to do. This was only further reinforced by him destroying the control ship over Naboo and thinking he had single handedly saved the planet, despite the fact that I had Gunray at gunpoint and could have ended it myself.

This was how his little Damsel fantasy of me came about, I believe. As for my no nonsense asskickery, that came from the fact that Ani had his own thoughts about my actions when we had first met. The fact that I was willing to get _rid of the Chancellor_ , Ani's words not mine, when he didn't vote in my favour or decide to save Naboo was seen as a way of me _showing them who's boss_. It had actually been the last in a long series of bad and ineffective decisions by Valurem and I just happened to be the one to call the vote, correlation not causation. Anakin also seems forget his buddy Palpatine also denied to help when he became Chancellor.

Another the _fact_ that I was this no nonsense rebel was because I raised an army in _defiance of the Republic._ He just didn't see it was because I wished to save my people not that I was willing to subvert Democracy to win. I had a lot of time to think over things these past few months apart and I don't think Ani ever really understood me at all.

Take a recent bill of mine. Upon returning to Coruscant after fighting on Ryloth Ani asks me to go on vacation with him but I have an important bill I need to pass. This bill is important for both the senate, as it will increase the amount of security on the information of each citizen of the Republic, but it is also important to me as I had put a lot of time and effort into the bill. While I was harsher than I needed to be Anakin just couldn't see that this was something important to me and started accusing me of not caring for him. Any time I tried to defend myself he just rejected me out of hand until he had enough and left.

Then there was the hostage situation and finding out, from his own Captain, that he had ordered an artillery strike on his _own men_. The next time I saw him was back at home where he then let slip that he was in the senate building at the time of the crisis and didn't help out. When asked why he said it was to teach me a lesson about how much I needed him.

That made me angry.

Not the loud, frustrated anger but the quiet, seething anger. I didn't say anything but I was disgusted with him. I may get myself into situations where I am a bit over my head and require some help but I did not _need_ him. And the fact that he was willing to put other people's lives on the line, my own included, was just disgusting. We barely spoke to each other for the next two weeks, just greeting each other when we got home.

When we got home. I don't know how true that statement is anymore. Every time I get back from work and Anakin gets back from whatever it is that he is doing we barely say a word more than we have to, to be polite. It feels more like we are sharing a room at a hotel because they couldn't book us separately, it didn't feel like we were married at all. He had gotten darker as well, more moody. It was gradual but I could tell. I suspected he might be getting high or something, his recent behaviour was in line with what I know about Spice addicts.

After the two weeks he went off to Malastare to reinforce Master Windu and test some type of new bomb or something, he looked happier about getting back into the action then he did when he first asked to share a vacation with him. I said goodbye and that was it for the next who knows how long. After Anakin had left I went to see Obi-wan to share my concerns about Ani and he just said that he had noticed a change in him too but he thought it was just stress from mounting responsibilities. I hope so, and I hope he gets better now that some of the weight had been take off of him because I wanted my husband back, and that person I had been living with the past two weeks was not my husband.

* * *

Halsey POV

Dr. Boll was a fool. She was capable, to be sure, but capable was not what I was looking for in Section 3. I wanted the best and this idiot is what was given to me.

I know why too. She was loyal only to the Chancellor and would report back to him if I started using Section 3 resources for my own ends, as I have done for the cure to the clones accelerated aging, but so long as he had no reason to stop me he wouldn't. Boll was so incompetent she couldn't even scale up the EMP grenades into a bomb and remove the build up time before they active by having them release the Pulse on hitting the ground. Just thinking about it while being distracted by other things I had come up with at least 3 basic designs superior to hers. Sure they were untested and sure her bomb would work but it was basic at best.

Her design used a high yield explosion to create the Pulse which is a purely viable option, if you were using a **nuclear** bomb. With a fraction of the material I could make a nuclear bomb of the same yield with twice as large predicted EMP. If I made a bomb with the _same_ amount of nuclear material I am sure I could create a bomb that could, with some modifications and additions, release an EMP field large enough to engulf several starships so long as they were close enough together.

Even the Separatists had created a better EMP weapon, sure it was an Ion based weapon and that meant it only temporary shut down electronics but it was still better than Boll's, and they had been concentrating more on weapons capable of killing organic life than on EMP weaponry.

Running ONI hadn't allowed me much time to create or research much as I was more focused on finding enemy intel. This is why the Chancellor started to assign new members of staff to Section 3 and why Boll was promoted to Section Head. But, again, I didn't have much time to worry about this as I needed to concentrate on the war effort.

Speaking of the war effort, Grey Team had returned from behind enemy lines with a wealth of information. Enemy production numbers, material count and sources, which systems had the highest concentration of foundries, where the main ship production was, etc. The main information from Grey Team was schematics for the war ship, Malevolence, and a new lead into Firestorm. Grey Team had found mention to Firestorm alongside two names Lott Dod and Rush Clovis. Whatever Firestorm was it was bigger than than the Scorched Earth MAP's from Maridun and wasn't the weapons name. No the real name for the weapons were Defoliators, a terrible name but what the hell, and we found that thanks to Black Team. Black Team had tracked down and found the facility where they were all being made. To limit the spread of information the Separatists were only using one factory to produce everything to do with the Defoliator. This was a good idea as it made it harder to find but they had stored the information electronically, meaning, with a little more work, it could be found by those dedicated enough to find it, this is why I preferred paper for sensitive information.

They had also, foolishly, stored all of the weapons and shells in the same place. Once we had access to the main computer frame in the factory we could trace the schematics and find out when and where any copies were made or sent to. It turns out they hadn't, storing everything in one place, so when I had Operators wipe the information we now had the only known copy of the weapon which meant they couldn't make any more. Especially because Black Team destroyed the facility.

This left ONI with two main intelligence objectives, find HK production centres and find out about Firestorm, one of which we were getting closer to.

Rush Clovis was a senator and a suspected Separatist sympathiser, so I bugged his office. He was corrupt to his core, but more importantly, he was dangerously obsessed. He had a fixation on another senator, Padme Amidala, and while he wasn't dangerous to the women he could be dangerous to any around her.

We needed to get close to Clovis so as to find out more about Firestorm and to do that we need senator Amidala's help.

* * *

Padme POV

Anakin had been gone for less than a day and it already felt better. It was a cold and lonely apartment and it felt better than sharing it with my husband, what a sad thought. Obi-wan had come over with his new Padawan. I hadn't seen much of Ahsoka, some stories here and there from Ani, but we got along well. She was witty, funny and had a dry humor, so similar to her new Master. I had expected a bit more of a brash personality, due to her working with Ani and learning from him, but Ahsoka was very mature for her age, a good thing considering she was fighting in a war.

Obi-wan and Ahsoka were spending a month on Coruscant to try and connect, as Master and Padawan, and were over two weeks in. They seemed to have a good connection to each other and blended very well.

They had come over for some dinner and I was currently finishing the final touches before I serve the two. I didn't have much chance to cook while being Queen or a senator, not like I did when I was young, so it felt good to get back and do it again after so long. It was a pasta dish with homemade sauce from my mother's personal recipe.

Taking the dish and setting it in the centre of the table I went back to fetch a pitcher of water. I know Obi-wan is very partial to tea but tea isn't a great drink with a pasta dish. Wine would go well but Ahsoka was too young and Obi-wan didn't drink. Well, not too much, I have managed to twist his arm on an occasion when we met for a lunch or two but those were few and far between, even before the war.

We didn't really have a lot in common, the three of us. One was a sophisticated Jedi Master who took his responsibilities seriously, one was an idealistic senator with more passion than self preservation instinct and the last was a young girl, more mature than others her age, who found war to be the ultimate work of art, and boy did Ahsoka blush in embarrassment when she let that slip. But somehow we all got along well and had plenty to talk about even if it was about the war and the necessity of it.

It was an interesting view of war, Ahsoka's. She likened war to the ultimate expression of self, that war showed a persons true character and presented it for everyone to see. Were they a coward, were they brave; were they careful, were they brash; were they smart or were they foolish?

'And isn't that what art is, showing everyone how you truly feel in a way words can't express.' It was a very interesting thing to think about, especially over dinner. Master Obi-wan had a small smile he was hiding with his glass. 'I mean, I don't want there to be a war but sometimes it's inevitable, you are left with no other choice but to fight or be subjugated. War should only be fought when it is necessary but we should never shy away from it.'

'But when is it necessary? Is it when all other options have been exhausted or when you have a distinct advantage over another?' I wasn't accusing her of anything, I was genuinely curious about when she thought it was necessary to fight.

'When it is the best option for those who depend on you. Do you gain more from diplomacy or from fighting, and how much do you lose. Which even option allows you to gain the most while losing the least is the best option.' Before we could talk further the door chimed so I excused myself from the table and when to the door. There was a man with a clean officer's uniform, dull grey, with a matching hat and a small beard. His cap was shadowing his eyes but I could see they were a dark brown.

'Excuse me Ma'am, I am with Section 0, please may I come inside.' Section 0? I know a lot of the GAR thanks to being a senator and from Anakin and Obi-wan but I have never heard of any Section 0. I told the officer as such and he just replied that he understood and just asked to come inside again. I may get kidnapped or held hostage more than most people but it wasn't because I was an idiot, rather it was due to the fact that I was nowhere near my captures skill at fighting. I was not letting him in.

I seemed to have been taking too long as Obi-wan had come to investigate what was going on. The officer reiterated to Obi-wan he was from Section 0 and Obi-wan grew more solemn and gave me a short nod, asking me to let the man in. I stepped to the side and allowed him in before leading him into the living room to sit. Ahsoka had moved from the table to the couch already.

After sitting down the officer introduced himself as Fil, and gave a brief introduction as to what Section 0 was. Apparently it was one of the branches of ONI and the one that was responsible for internal affairs. He likened it to the secret police, not a very nice thought but it allowed me a clearer picture of what they did. Apparently he was looking for Separatists.

'Well, as you can see, I am not harbouring any Separatist sympathisers. Unless of course the Jedi are all turncoats in which case you might as well arrest us all.' I was being far more defensive than usually but I had enough of accusations recently, thank you very much, and I wasn't up for any more, even implied ones.

'I am afraid you misunderstand. I am not here to investigate you, if I was I would have my team with me, but I am here because I need your help in investigating others. Our records show you were once a… _friend_ to senator Rush Clovis but have fallen out of contact recently. We need you to reconnect with him and get invited to accompany him to Cato Neimoidia, a trip that is happening in 3 days. You can then spend your time there however you wish but my team and I will be accompanying you to perform our own investigation.' Okay. So he wasn't accusing me, but he was accusing a friend, even an estranged one like Clovis. I was hesitant but Obi-wan seemed to know about them so I was giving them the benefit of the doubt. I pressed for more details, saying I would need them before making a decision, but the officer only glanced at Obi-wan while saying I didn't have the clearance necessary for that Obi-wan seemed to understand the silent exchange as he gave the officer a nod, telling him I would be given temporary clearance by order of Military High Command.

'On the planet of Maridun a Spartan Fireteam was sent to investigate and neutralise a new Separatist Super weapon. There were... _complications_ during the mission which delayed the Spartans and the weapon was fired. They managed to destroy it but not before documenting its effects, as well as finding information on the weapon along with schematics. The weapon destroyed all life, including the local sentient population, within a 5 km radius. This weapon hasn't been seen since but our intel from the planet had found mention of something called Firestorm. Unfortunately, the delay meant we couldn't find out more, until now. Recent intel has found a link between Firestorm and Trade Federation Representative Lott Dod as well as Banking Clan Representative Rush Clovis. They have a scheduled meeting in three days and we need to be there to find out more. Firestorm has been linked to the deadliest Separatist Super weapon to date, we need to be there.' There was no choice then. I guess this is what Ahsoka meant about making the best decision rather than exhausting all other options first, we couldn't afford to wait for any other way. After getting my acceptance the officer handed me a comm link and said to contact them after reestablishing contact with Clovis, and then again when I had secured passage to Cato Neimoidia.

Once he had left Ahsoka spoke, her face troubled. She talked about how she was there on Maridun, how she met the local Lurmen population and the devastation of the weapon, not even leaving husks of the dead behind, she then went on to mention how all involved left the weapons capabilities out of official reports so as not to alert Master Skywalker what had happened. What did Anakin have to do with this?

'That complication he mentioned, it was Master Skywalker. He spent so long refusing to help the Spartans, even baring me and Rex from helping, that Master Secura spent too long trying to change his mind. The Spartans needed some extra manpower to take out the forward outpost so had to wait on Master Secura which resulted in them missing the Weapon as it moved on the village. He had spent so long just throwing accusations and baseless claims at the Spartans that we felt it was best to leave what happened to the Lurmen out of official reports so he didn't just use it to justify himself and his accusations, as he often does. When things just happen to go his way he uses that as proof he was right, not as happenstance. And when things don't go his way, well that was just bad luck. It was Skywalkers fault the villagers were killed and it's his fault that ONI needs to put you in harms way just to find out crucial information they couldn't get the first time around because of him.' It seems the more I hear about Anakin and his actions in the war the less I like them and the less I really understand about him. The pair left after that, the mood not quite providing a friendly dining atmosphere.

* * *

Padme POV

The first thing I did the next day was make contact with Clovis. I asked if he was available for a meal today, making sure to inject a bit of a demure, submissive tinge to my voice. He lapped at it like a thirsty dog given a drink. I spun him a tale about how I had so much work since the war started and how I had no time to meet with anyone and I just needed to see a friend, despite how long we had been out of touch. I may have had my problems with Clovis in the past, him being overbearing and crowding me, but it was a nice feeling for a man to be so enamoured as to drop what they were doing to meet with me.

We had arranged for an evening meal at a restaurant close to the Senate Building and so I left early to go home and get dressed. I had put on a dress I hadn't worn in a while, making it look like I am doing something special just for Clovis, and did up my hair and makeup. I took a speeder taxi to the restaurant and found Clovis waiting for me.

He took my jacket and pulled out my seat for me, being the perfect gentlemen. He had always been like this, but then that was the problem, he just didn't stop. Always being the gentleman, always pampering me, just never letting me do something for myself. Some girls may like that but I had always like to do things for myself as much as I liked having a man willing to be the gentlemen, there just has to be some boundaries between the two.

We had a nice meal and a drink or two but the main highlight was to reconnect with Clovis. I know he probably saw this as a romantic occasion, or the chance to rekindle our past relationship, but I just found it a nice change to sit down with an old friend. The difficult part was when I started to talk about his work for the Banking Clan.

'I know it must be difficult with all the extra business from the war. To stay neutral on top of all the extra work must be stressful.' He was at least trying to be humble about his war profiteering but there was more than a hint of pride in his voice. I hid my disgust with a politician's practised smile. Laughing at his poor jokes, smiling at his stories and nodding to his questions.

'I envy you Clovis. Before the war I never really thought about travelling. Now, with there being so many Separatist worlds that are off limits, I have found myself longing to visit different places. I know it's silly but, by not being allowed to go somewhere, I just want to see it more.' Clovis was quick to jump and assure me that it wasn't silly to want to travel, that he knew how beautiful places in this galaxy could be. I told him that it must be nice being a part of a _neutral_ business like the Banking Clan, to be able to go anywhere.

'To see the glistening oceans of Ando, the impossible plateaus of Haruun Kal or the ingenious bridge cities of Cato Neimoidia.' I had him. While he seemed to stumble over his words at first he quickly offered to allow me to join his trip to Cato Neimoidia. I made a small protest, saying _I have so much work to do that I couldn't possibly_ , which only made him insist more. I accepted on the condition that I was able to bring my own ship and crew, to make my own arrangements for the trip, so as not to _inconvenience_ him any more than I already had. He agreed and we finished or meal talking about all the different places we had been.

After returning home the first thing I did was call up Operative Fil. After congratulating me on my fast work he arranged to come over tomorrow to discuss the details of our trip.


	25. Chapter 25

Padme POV

Commander Fil suggested it would be best to keep at least minimal contact with Clovis until after we had finished at Cato Neimoidia so I had been calling Clovis for a small chat each day, asking how he was and sorting out the details of the trip, we even went out to lunch one more time.

Clovis was going a day ahead of me while I headed to Naboo to _pick up_ my crew and security officer before making my way to Cato Neimoidia. I was really heading over to Naboo to help Operative Fil and his team set up a line of communication with Captain Typho.

I hadn't even noticed that Fil was actually a clone trooper until he had changed into his Naboo Security uniform, his beard and hat combo from our first meeting really helped to hide his features. He and his team, Operatives Bel and Niner, were currently dismantling weapons and hiding them inside R2, who was in my care as Anakin didn't want to risk him near an EMP, to smuggle them past any Neimoidian security, I was discussing my role in all this with the Captain, he worried too much.

I was actually only really there to get the team on the planet and to give them a cover, by distracting Clovis and Lott Dod. I was to wine, dine and mingle with the guests, making sure to keep their attention on myself while the ONI team did their work. I didn't tell Typho what we were looking for, Fil had given me a strong warning about the security of information and clearance levels, highlighting the fact that if we could steal information so could the enemy.

After waiting for Niner to change into his new Engineer uniform and Bel into a Nabooian Medical uniform, both with uniform matching hats, we loaded a few supplies onto my ship and headed for Cato Neimoidia. While there I asked why we were even setting up communications with Typho and not with ONI directly and Fil explained it was so that if any communications were being tracked we could have the excuse that we were only reporting in to Typho. It made sense.

Our trip was at least 8 hours long and, in that time, I had to memorise the code names of the team, Fil, Bel and Niner weren't exactly common names. Fil was Lieutenant Mitchell, Niner was Kyle Lambro and Bel was Dr. Stevens. Simple and easy to remember. We had made the excuse of picking up a new crew from Naboo to cover for any slips of names I may have.

It wasn't long before we arrived at Cato Neimoidia and Fil sent the access codes that Clovis gave me to enter the airspace and land on the planet. As I made my way down the landing ramp, with Fil carrying some bags and R2 D2 behind, I was greeted by Clovis and Lott Dod. I gave Clovis a brief hug and then gave my thanks to Lott Dod for allowing me to visit his estate. He said I was more than welcome but his face scrunched up like he had just eaten something foul.

When Niner and Bel came down the ramp I asked if we could go to our rooms to offload our luggage, to which Clovis quickly agreed, escorting us personally. I was set up in a very luxurious suite while Niner and Bel were down the corridor, in a less extravagant setting. Clovis had set up Fil across the hall from me so that I had my Security close at hand. I unpacked while the boys were setting up for their surveillance.

Once we were all ready I commed Clovis to tell him and he came to come and collect Fil, R2 and I for his promised tour of all the major historical and geographical locations in and around the Capital, Zarra. While we were walking through Lott Dod's estate R2 was mapping the building while and Fil was listening out for any interesting pieces of information, getting access to the home planet and estate of one of the higher ranking members of the Trade Federation was not an opportunity he seemed willing to pass up.

Clovis took us to a private starship that had two clear dome's on the side, giving a near 360 degree view. It looked like one of those expensive luxury transport ships, the ones with the full fancy dining rooms and several observation platforms to see the beauty all around us, the domed rooms. I was on one such balcony platforms, standing just ahead of Clovis as his pilot took us around the city. It was beautiful and Clovis seemed to know so much of the planet's history, never not having something to talk about. Fil stood by the doorway to the observation platform, close enough to help if needed and far enough away to give Clovis and I some space.

Our tour took us the the First Colonisation monument, which Clovis explained was in memory of the first Neimoidian Purse Worlds, the most important colonised worlds of the Neimoidians that were the capital planets for each Neimoidian star system. It was actually in honor of this that the Separatists had named any strategically important planet Purse Worlds.

Our tour eventually lead out to the rocky hills of the planet and to see the full majesty of the bridge cities. Such a masterful and beautiful feat of engineering was just stunning. Naboo had a very rustic charm to it and Coruscant was a technical marvel but it was these bridge cities that seemed to combine the two so seamlessly.

The tall rock towers were just as impressive. To see such wonder made by it's own hand was so beautiful. And the close up view of the waterfalls that cascade down the side was stunning. I was so engrossed that I hadn't even realised I wasn't listening to Clovis until he had to get my attention by calling my name.

'I'm so sorry. You were saying?' He brushed me off, saying he was just happy I was enjoying myself so much.

'I had asked if you want to go under them.' I was at a loss for words so I just smiled and nodded, something Clovis returned. He then pressed a button at the side of the platform and the glass roof slid away and a minor atmospheric shield turned on. As we slowed down and headed under the waterfall I got to see all of the beautiful ways the water slides and swirls on the shield as it tries to escape and continue its journey to the planet's surface. After about a second a fine mist seeped through the shields and filled the room in the most wonderful and refreshing mist, just divine. I closed my eyes and spread my arms just to take it all in. We spent a few minutes just observing the beauty of nature, not saying a word, and listening to the immensely glorious roar of gallons upon gallons of clean water pouring down the sides of the rock face. It was almost sad to leave.

We started to make our way back to the estate to prepare ourselves for the evening meal and left the waterfalls behind. I immediately went to my room and waited for Fil and R2 to enter before closing the door.

'I guess play time's over now, time to get back to work. What's the plan?' I turned to Fil who said that Niner and Bel should have finished the preparations to begin surveillance and that my part was to drag the meal on as long as possible while not being too overt and making it unreasonable. While I was doing that the boys would be infiltrating further into the estate, setting up surveillance equipment and finding all they could on Firestorm. With all that said and done Fil left the room and I went to get myself ready for dinner.

* * *

Fil POV

I met with the men in Niners room. He was finishing screwing some parts together and then put it in a pile of similar devices. We set to work dividing the piles of sensors, scanners, cameras and microphones into 3 piles, one for each of us, while R2 transferred his map to our person holoemitters. We would each take one and place them in different parts of the estate with help from the map R2-D2 had made. It wasn't a fully comprehensive map so we would be on our own for some of it but it was much better than nothing. Niner would bug the hanger and the corridors between here and there, we needed to make recordings on who was coming and going. Bel would bug the rooms and the garden, the two most likely places for a private meeting. I would look for any security rooms or other important location, like holostations, and bug them, we needed to know how much they knew and where they got the information as well as being able to erase any trace of our sneaking about.

With our destinations set we each went off to do our jobs. I was using my disguise as an excuse to get to areas normal guests wouldn't be allowed by saying I was _making sure the area was secure_. Most let me pass without further comment, them being the working staff like maids and cooks, but the security was a bit harder to convince. I had to explain how Senator Amidala was a high target for assassination, with many bounty hunter being sent after her. It had actually made galactic news, the amount of assassins sent after Amidala, just because of the sheer, absured amount. It had even been a point of propaganda that Section 4 had used to promote the fairness of the Republic and to slander the Separatists, who were trying to _eliminate one of the Republics fairest senators to bring down our democracy_. With this knowledge I was allowed past with little, further, protest.

I spent at least two hours discreetly planting my bugs with no one any the wiser. As I was finished up in my sector I came across a holostation with a holotape reader. It was an oddity, not because of the rarity of the tape reader, they were actually pretty common and are usually play movies and the GAR used them for battlefield maps, but because it was attached to a holostation. Most only use them for movies and not for a holostation as they served no practical function for calling someone so it grabbed my attention.

Looking around the room it looked to be a normal holostation, 1 of 3 in the building, but I had also found a lack of anything remotely out of place. It would actually make a good meeting room for more clandestine meetings. I moved to the table after finishing bugging the room and played the tape.

A new type of Geonosian style of building appeared in front of me. It could have been a restoration project for Geonosis but I doubted it, not with two individuals involved with Firestorm on the same planet at the same time at a clandestine meeting room. I moved to some of the next images and it showed the inside. It was a droid foundry.

The foundries were some of the worst droid factories out their as they could pump out enough droids to man a starship in under a day. This thing was like some sort of super foundry and could pump out enough droids to man a small fleet in the same time. I skipped through some more images, schematics, projected numbers, credit and material costs etc., until I came across something else. It was a new kind of Tank we had never seen before and looked to have more armed and armoured than anything we had seen before.

Just as I was about to see if I could get the tape out discreetly I heard voices down the corridor. I turned off the projection and moved to the call pad on the side and started to dial, but it just wasn't connecting. I was repeatedly pressing the button as fast as I could but it still wasn't working.

'Hey. What do you think you are doing?' Representative Clovis was storming towards me with Lott Dod waiting patiently at the corner. A brown, scaly face with tendrils briefly peered around the corner, Poggle the Lesser. Shit. One of the leaders of the Separatist forces, the leader of Geonosis no less, and I had a strict no kill policy from Halsey herself. Fuck.

'Just trying to contact Captain Typho sir. He asked me to personally assess the security of the building and then report back to him when I could. I've just finished and am reporting back to him now sir.' The man stared at me for a long time before giving me a nod. He said the holotables were password locked and gave me the code but told me to go to one of the other rooms to call the Captain from. I thanked him for his help and moved to leave.

'One moment. Your accent, it's not Nabooian or from any of the Core Worlds.' Kriffing shit. Every single clone trooper ad picked up Jango's accent thanks to his training and it being the most prevalent accent we listened to growing up due to the flash training and all the other clones talking like that.

'No sir. I'm from Concord Dawn.' A bit of advice when lying, saying too much doesn't help. Plan out your story, get it right but don't say it unless asked. For example, if I was asked why I didn't use my personal communicator then I would respond that I had lost mine and had to use one of the stations. People tend to skip the minor details, not really caring, butget suspicious if you start just jabbering on about nothing just so you could answer all the questions a person may have before they ask them. If they do ask you will need to have your story straight but never give them more than they ask for. Lucky I did have my story straight because he asked for it.

'After all warriors were exiled or confined to Concordia, by order of the Duchess, I decided to leave, fighting is all I know and I didn't want to be trapped even to a planet sized prison. I didn't want to bounty hunt so I hopped between worlds and eventually landed on Naboo and got myself a job as a security guard.' He let me go at that and I made my way another holostation. I was on the radar now and my call would probably be monitored so I would have to make it otherwise it would look suspicious. So, I called Typho. This _is_ what we spent time setting up a line of contact with him for.

'Everything alright lieutenant?'

'Crystal sir. Checked it all myself.' Our little code worked like this, _All green_ meant we could talk freely. _Crystal_ meant communications are compromised, be careful what you say. The second line referred to if we had the information we were looking for yet. If I hadn't _finished my rounds_ we did have anything, _nearly finished_ meant I had partial information and _checked it all_ meant I had it, or at least knew it. With Typho getting the message I ended the call and he would pass this on to someone at ONI and give them an update. I moved back to Niners room to meet with the others.

I gave them an update, all major areas tagged, information located and security room found but uncompromised. They reported a similar success in bugging their designated areas so I went to inform Amidala of our success, bringing R2 with me.

Upon closing the senators door I told her about our successful planting of the bugs and that we had found what we were looking for.

'The only problem is that I need to memorise the information as it is on a holotape that is locked by voice recognition or keycard access only.' The senator reached into the band of her stockings and pulled out a silver keycard.

'Is this it?' I asked where she got this and she said she swiped it from Clovis at dinner. Fucking hell, I couldn't catch a break.

'Do you understand what happens to us if they catch us with this?'

' _Oh Clovis. You dropped this at the table and I couldn't give it back to you before you left. Here you go._ I'm not an idiot.' At least her acting was convincing.

When she asked what are exit strategy was I said once we had the tape and wiped our tracks we could leave whenever she wanted. She then mentioned Lott Dod seemed overly suspicious at dinner but that could just be because of the past between her and the Trade Federation. I left the keycard with her and told her to keep it close and then rummaged through R2 for a pistol and gave it to her. If they came looking for it she was to hand it over. But if she still had it tonight then I would knock twice, pause, then knock again, once more. If someone entered her room and didn't give the knock then she needed to be able to defend herself.

* * *

Padme POV

I was settling in for the night when a pair of knocks came from the door. I waited for a third but it didn't come so I asked who it was. The door opened and Lott Dod walked in.

'Representative Dod, what a surprise. What can I do for you?' He just stepped into the centre of the room so I turned the chair at the vanity table, that I was sitting on, to face him, discreetly letting go of the pistol.

'I am just here to congratulate you on your promotion.' What?

'Promotion?'

'Indeed. From Senator to Spy.' My heart dropped. I denied the allegations, obviously, but he just pointed out the keycard on the vanity table, waiting for Fil to come pick it up. I tried to explain I had found it on the floor at dinner but he just pointed out I was the first at the table to leave and he hadn't seen me bend down to pick anything up. Shit. He turned to leave, just wishing me a good sleep. Not night, sleep, like a long sleep, with fishes. I pulled the pistol and aimed it at him.

'Senator Amidala, if you are going to pull a gun on me you had best use it.' He may have stopped but he didn't turn around to talk to me. After a few seconds he started walking away again and I just panicked. No, not now, not after all this work, not when we were so close to letting people know what Firestorm really was, a planned invasion into Republic Space with Trillions of battle droids and new super weapons.

I fired.

Not even a minute later Fil rushed into my room, saw Dod and my blaster and dragged Dod to the balcony and dumped him over the edge. Dod's luxury estate was on the edge of the Zarra city bridge so his body just tumbled to the planet's floor. Fil called for the blaster and told drop to the floor under the window. As I did this Fil fired at the wall and then moved onto the balcony and shot the window from outside several times, smashing the glass and leaving carbon scoring on the floor very close to me. He then started to turn and fire at the mountains.

Several Neimoidian guards rushed into the room and Fil just shouted _assassin_ and let of a few more shots before stopping. Clovis rushed into the room and dropped to my side, making sure I was okay. I was still shaking from killing Dod so at least I was genuine in my shock, even if Clovis took it the wrong way.

Fil discretely moved to the vanity and pocketed the card while giving order to the guard to secure the room and to help pack my things. He informed Clovis that we would need to leave the planet, something Clovis quickly agreed with and sent a team to refuel my ship while also ordering _Lieutenant Mitchell_ to get _Dr. Stevens_ to check up on me.

Fil then told Clovis to order the guards to make sure all entrances and exits were secure while he goes and does a quick head count and gets Bel for my check up. Niner was sent to pack up the luggage that the boys brought while some of the Neimoidian guards securing my room were to help me and Clovis pack my things.

About 15 minutes later Fil came back into the room and discreetly flashed me a holotape and then pocketed it.

'Representative Clovis, I've taken a quick headcount and can't find Representative Dod. I believe these bounty hunters may be after Senators. I would recommend leaving the planet as quickly as possible.' Clovis stammered out a reply that he would, before he turned to me. I placed my hand on his and told him to go pack his things and to get off planet as soon as possible. He quickly moved to do so.

Once the bags were packed Fil and Bel moved mine to my ship, Niner had finished getting the rest of the bags read and on the ship before we had arrived. As soon as the doors closed Fil and I headed to the cockpit and moved into orbit, set our hyperspace destination and engaged the hyperdrive.

'Well. That could have gone better.' That was an understatement. 'I would have liked a quiet exit and for Dod to be alive, so we can continue to monitor his estate, but you made the right choice senator. I would rather lose surveillance then our cover.' I thanked him and we fell into a sort of tense silence for some time. I couldn't get it out of my head, the feeling of the pistol, the weight of it, the weight of the life I've taken.

'It's not easy is it.' I turned to Fil.

'No. I guess I have a new appreciation for those in the intelligence service. You have a hard job.' I was playing ignorant, to be sure, but I just didn't want to talk about it. Fil was of a different mind.

'Killing a person is never an easy thing, it's so different from killing a droid. Droids just drop to the ground, you're lucky if that happens to the person you shoot. Most of the time they just start writhing in pain and then you have to shoot them again, but by that time it's a mercy, though I think that only makes it harder. Knowing that you need to give them a mercy killing because you are the one that put them in a position where they need one is the worst feeling in the world and it's near impossible to work up the courage to do it, though you always do, even if it is just to correct your own mistake.' He was making it worse. This guilt that had settled in the pit of my stomach was just eating away at me now, trying to burst it's way out of my gut.

'But that doesn't mean you were wrong. Sometimes you have to kill someone, for various reasons, but even then it should never be easy. If it ever is then there is something wrong with you.

'Just a tip, talk to someone, anyone. Talk to someone who understands and will listen. It's the best way to get over anything, get it off your chest with someone who understands and can actually help. And, if you need it, if you can't find someone who understands, you have my comm, because I do understand.' I thanked him for his help and Fil gave me a brief nod before telling me to go lie down and get some sleep.

* * *

Padme POV

After returning to Coruscant I said goodbye to Fil and his team and went home to try and forget the body on the floor, but it just wasn't going away. I spent hours going room to room and doing any and every job around the place that I could think of, from the biggest to the smallest. While the place wasn't the most immaculate it had ever been, for all that I was, a professional cleaner I was not, it did help take my mind off things, until I had nothing left to do.

I couldn't get the image out of my head, seeing the body on the floor. I couldn't take it anymore. I was working myself up so much that I just needed to let it out, I needed to talk to someone. So, I called Obi-wan.

He came over as soon as he could and we talked for hours. I told him about the mission, what had happened, and he told me how me copes with similar things, killing people. We talked about what we did and how we felt. We talked about how we got into those situations and what would happen if we didn't do what we did. We talked about the lives we had saved and the help we had done. Before we knew it we were talking about how it made us feel to help another person and all the times a person's gratitude towards us for helping them cope in the simplest of way is so rewarding. We were swapping story after story about the trails of others and the joys found in helping them, all our different missions as Jedi or Diplomat. We laughed and we cried and the weight in my stomach, the guilt, fade so gradually I didn't even notice it was gone. With the sun setting I had to say goodbye to Obi-wan and went to bed.

For the next few days we met up again and again, just so that I had someone close by who understood what I was going through. We had lunch, dinner, I had gone to the temple to explore the library with him, he had come with me to some of the more important senate debates for his take on things, we just hung out together. It was all going so well until Anakin came home.

I say came home but I didn't even know he was on the planet until I ran into him in the hallway of the senate building with Obi-wan, we had been coming back from a debate on how much should be spent on relief funds for civilians caught up in the war. It wasn't the most interesting topic but it was important, that and it was a lot funnier then it normally would be with Obi-wan's constant dry remarks all the way through, mostly about the different speakers and what they were actually saying. We were still laughing and joking when we came across Anakin.

Obi-wan greeted him warmly and I then went to do the same but I noticed a glint in his eye, a glint of rage, so my smile was a little off. When Anakin asked what we were doing I could hear the strain in his voice and knew he was holding back his temper. He didn't like our answer but that's his problem, we had done nothing wrong.

It only got worse when I got home, having said goodbye to Obi-wan. We were husband and wife and we didn't even have two seconds together before the accusations started to fly. When he finally stop ranting and demanded to know what I was doing I said I was being with a friend.

'A _friend_?' The sarcasm was so think I could touch it.

'Yes, Anakin, a friend. I need one because of everything that has happened recently so sue me.' I was a little angry so I wasn't as careful with my words as usual and he picked up on it. This lead to me having to explain what _everything that has happened_ meant and my trip to Cato Neimoidia at ONI's request. Anakin was far more subdued after hearing it all and I thought it was because he understood what I was going through and was going to help me get over this, for lack of a better word, trauma. I was wrong.

'ONI should have never forced you to risk your life like that. Don't worry, I will bring it up with the Chancellor later, they will pay for this. But I have to say well done on giving those Grub bastards what they deserve.' With everything that had happened over the past few days, before Anakin left, after he left, my time on Cato Neimoidia and now that he was back, all of that was just piling and piling up and I just snapped.

'Excuse me. Where, on this planet, do you get off, 'cus you clearly aren't on the same planet I am. I wasn't _forced_ to do anything, if I was it would be your fault for what happened on Maridun. Speaking of which, the more I hear about your _exploit's_ during the war the more I. am. **disgusted**. By the Force, you shot your own men in the back.

'And, _well done_. I murdered someone and all you can do is congratulate me. Though I shouldn't be surprised, should I. Back on Tatooine I tried to be understanding, you were in grief and lost control, you tried to save your mother but she died because of the Sand People, the Sand People are a menace to the denizens of Tatooine. But having murdered someone myself I realise the only reason you didn't stop back then, until they were all dead, is because you _liked it_. Maybe your morals kicked in after, but in the heat of the moment you couldn't stop because you enjoyed killing them.

'Your sick, Anakin. And the fact you would praise, **celebrate** , someone else's murder just proves that. I don't think I ever knew you at all.'

'Padme I didn't mean it like th...' I cut him off. Looking back I might see myself as too harsh or too unreasonable. But right now, with all that's gone on in such a short space of time, I wasn't feeling just or reasonable and I wanted Anakin to know how I felt, all of it.

'Leave.' He staggered back. 'I said leave. You are nothing like the man I married, the man I thought I married, but I guess that was my fault. It is something that we are both guilty of, we never really understood each other and built up an image in our heads of what the other was like. So I want you to leave. I don't want a stranger in my home.'

'Padme... Please.' I gave him a glare that could blow up a planet, tears streaming down my face and eyes as red as molten lava.

'I am _extremely_ emotional right now and you are just making it worse. Please leave before I call security. Maybe not, you might murder them too.' It was harsh and more than uncalled for but I wasn't in a state to care.

Anakin left swiftly after that, not even taking what little he had left here that was his. I just broke down into sobbing. When did it all go so wrong, when did I become so blind to what was in front of me the whole time, he hadn't exactly hid what he did to the Tusken Raiders. Thinking back it was probably back on Naboo when I wilfully turned a blind eye to Anakins thoughts on democracy and authoritarianism, just before we went to rescue #obi-wan on Geonosis. He seemed to think there should be a single person in charge with the power to do whatever they want. They say power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. If Anakin was after the power to do whatever he wanted with no one being able to hold him responsible then he was the most corrupt person in this galaxy.

After a few hours I picked myself up off the floor. I needed someone to talk to, but I couldn't talk to Obi-wan, not about this, so I called Fil. Fil had shown he understands the weight of a life in a way I needed to understand, to be able to cope, and if an ONI agent couldn't keep a secret who could. I just needed to talk.

* * *

Fil POV

I had returned to Kamino as soon as I could and had a personal meeting with Director Halsey, my first with her but it wasn't a surprise given the nature of my mission. After giving her a report on what happened and the holotape for her to review she asked me for my assessment and recommendation.

'Senator Amidala has performed well under pressure. Her quick thinking and actions have been a benefit to the mission and all her contributions are not to be over looked. She has shown herself to be willing and capable of doing what is necessary despite personal beliefs. She is a prime candidate for Project Senate Spook.' Senate Spook was basically what it said in the title, members of the Senate who worked as ONI Spooks. Sometime the diplomatic protection provided to an elected Senator was a very valuable thing and they all had varying degrees of power in multiple different areas or planets. Certain senators were being evaluated and approached to see if they would be willing to work with ONI in routing out any Separatist spies in the senate by becoming _our_ spies in the senate. Amidala's patriotism and belief in democracy is a big factor in her being chosen for this project and it was now up to Halsey to decide what to do. That didn't mean I couldn't help.

Amidala would be a very valuable asset to the team and if helping her through her personal problems endeared her to ONI she would be more likely to accept our offer when the time came. That and I genuinely want to help her, apparently her husband was a dick.

* * *

Palpatine POV

The domino's were all set for the start of the second phase of this war and now it was time to knock them down. I had set up every single domino perfectly and now I just needed to knock one over to reveal the bigger picture they all make. The only thing was that the Master Chief was a round metal ball, he wasn't someone who could be easily placed or manoeuvred into place, he did whatever he wanted, what he thought was right. Normally I would remove such metal balls to make sure they don't mess anything up but the picture was already set, it didn't matter where I started knocking down the domino's, the picture would still be revealed, the outcome the same. The only problem would be the further up the line I start, if I don't do things at exactly the right time, the more pieces that are left standing at the end. For example, if I give out Order 66 too early then there could be a few too many Jedi still standing, sure I could go back and knock them down but I wouldn't get them at the start.

By adding a metal ball like the Master Chief we added a random element to the mix. Due to his importance he was close to the start of the domino's so when he was hit he could move in any direction. He could hit the next domino in the sequence and effect nothing, he could veer off to the side and leave the domino's to fall how I made them, not impacting them at all, or he could hit a domino further down the line and start it there, speeding up the time needed to reveal the full picture while we wait for the original line to catch up to the Master Chief. The picture was set, my rise to power cemented, what was the harm in a little bit or random, spontaneous fun that the Master Chief brings to the otherwise rigid set of domino's. The result will be the same in the end.


	26. Chapter 26

John POV

I was uneasy. Now that Master Pretorius had arrived the 501st was on technical leave, meaning we were still on the clock and could be recalled to action at a moments notice but we could use this free time like leave, until our new orders came in. This was over two days ago. Now that I had our new orders a small part of me wished we were still on leave.

That first day after Master Pretorius had arrived, not General, Master, the old man was far too insightful and knowledgeable to be anything but a Master Jedi, the 501st was given a full day of leave for all our hard work, with most going on the lash. That is, they went and got themselves so drunk they had destroyed bars, smashed up windows, painted walls and performed other such alcohol related havoc. The whole day, from start to finish, had been filled with drinking and disorderly conduct by all troopers given leave to head planetside, which was nearly all of them.

I had actually spent that day with Cortana and Whip, reading in our room. Well, Cortana was reading I was just sitting with her in my lap sometimes reading a page or two over her shoulder but just generally removing everything from my mind and relaxing. Rex also had a day to himself as did Yularen, who spent time with Tohm, leaving Hevy in charge of the 501st and what little it actually had to do to keep running. Apparently this was not a good idea as he was found passed out on a bar stool next to Fives, Echo, Hardcase, Jesse and Kix.

After I woke up on the second day and read the reports I recalled all trooper in the 501st and made them go to every bar and down every street and clean it all up up. I didn't care if the troopers did it or not, all rubbish and graffiti was to be cleaned or disposed of. I refuse to lead a disorganised mess of a legion that has no respect for anyone, not these people and not even themselves, if the fact they didn't care what the people thought of them was any indication. A full 16 hour shift, cleaning rubbish and moving the debris left from the fighting, with no rest till we were done should, hopefully, mean they will behave themselves next time.

Anyway. Our next mission was to be apart of the combined assault forces that will be retaking Geonosis and crushing Poggle's rebellion. The thought alone was enough to evoke apprehension inside me and the source of my unease. I understand the necessity of it but out of all the legions assigned to the assault we were the only legion going back again. Sure, the Jedi had been there too, but their legions hadn't. I was not looking forward to telling the men we were going back to that hell, especially the men who had been before.

The plan was at least leagues ahead of the one used last time, which consisted of rushing forward till we stomped the bugs underfoot, and this plan involved using the size of our forces to our advantage. There were 3 main targets, the droid super foundry, a regular foundry and a vehicle factory. Kyrat had been assigned to take the super foundry via landing zone Point Rain. The 212th and 516th, under Generals Kenobi and Mundi, were taking the vehicle factory from Point Wind. This left Point Stone for the 501st to land at before making our assault on the remaining foundry. These targets were all chosen to correspond to the different troop battalions each legion had.

The Point Stone foundry, for example, was located in the centre of a canyon, in a sort of cul de sac that had two canyon passes leading to it. Our landing zone was the only one cut off from the other landing zones and our reinforcements, leaving us completely surrounded, but this was done with the types of troops we had in mind and to make our job easier. The second pass leading to the foundry actually lead to an open area near to the Point Rain landing zone, the problem was something we called The Wall. It had been built by the Geonosian to cut off above ground access between the different foundries as a way of stopping clone troopers to easily move between the targets. Our pass, near Stone, didn't have this Wall which allowed us to move freely down the canyon to assault the foundry.

Another benefit was a set of Geonosian tunnels that lead from our pass to the second pass, exited between the foundry and The Wall, allowing for a flanking maneuver. Our plan of attack was to move Torrent and Carnivore down the pass while Bull moved along the canyon tops, using the elevated position to rain down any droids and to have an elevated position against the foundry. Storm would move through the tunnels and clear out any Geonosians within before flank the factory, hopefully breaking through heir lines and getting inside. Simple yet effective, and it allowed for room to move if something went wrong, a massive improvement to what I had seen before.

Krayt was landing at Point Rain, an open field landing zone with no cover, and were to simply charge at the super foundry. It was in keeping with Skywalkers track record so I couldn't say I was surprised even though I was disappointed. Luckily, his new legions had been designed with such tactics in mind.

For his armour Skywalker had a squadron of AT-RT's and a host of Juggernaut Turbo Tanks so that he could move around obstacles or move through them. As for infantry, he had a single legion of Regs and a single legion of Shock, the real centre piece of his command was the 2 legions of Galactic Marines. The Marines were Lama Su's answer to Clone Commando's, just without any Mandalorian influence. They were grown and trained in his secondary facility and were removed from all Mandalorian influence. Sadly, while they were the toughest Regs out there, they were still Regs. We had strict requirements to be accepted into any Spec Ops branch and standard Galactic Marine training does not meet those requirements, falling just short, meaning it couldn't be classified as a Spec Ops branch. This meant they were not under ONI's jurisdiction but High Commands instead. Another thing with the Marines were they were very limited in numbers. Due to the age of Su's second facility there were only 3 battalions of Marines at this time, and they were all here on Geonosis.

The joint operation on the vehicle factory, by the 212th Attack Legion and the 516th Support Legion, had to be done against a fortified hill position. While the doors to the vehicle bay had been carved out of the hill, to allow the vehicles to just roll out, and were ground level, the personnel entrances were located on a man made ridge at the crest of the hill. Thanks to having a dedicated Commando battalion Kenobi could assault the vehicle bays while Mundi's 516th could move through the facility via the personnel entrances. Mundi's Flame Troopers and Marines would be perfect for clearing out the bugs in the facility and in the tunnels underneath.

With our orders received I now needed to inform the men and prepare them as best I could before we arrived. Due to my knowledge of the planet, how the Geonosians design their facilities and the ways they fight I could teach those who weren't Vet's from the first battle on how to better fight them. To do this I had enlisted help from Rex to design a set of obstacle courses to help train the men with. Once done we sent the plans to the rest of the fleet along with a training plan. The courses were to be constructed in the largest open spaces on the ships so we could train during hyperspace. We would only get a few hours of training but at least they would have something to work with.

There was a whimper down at my side so I turned my head to the greedy beast at my side, who didn't like the fact that I wasn't giving him the _attention_ he deserved. He had been a big help down on Ciutric IV when we were clearing the cities. It was a bit of a tight squeeze in the ODP's but we made it work. The only problem with the tight squeeze was the fact that I couldn't turn of the comm when Cortana decided to make a comment about how _cute we were, a boy and his dog_. I could imagine her smirk in my head every time we jumped. I hadn't taken Whip onto the moons with me as I didn't want to risk him near any IED's or other explosives now that the commander had shown their preference for them.

The reason Whip was whimpering is because I had limited where I took him as I had been trying to keep him and Tohm from meeting. Whip first greeted people by yanking their leg out from under them with enough force he can floor an unarmoured Spartan. Tohm had been through enough already.

Speaking of Tohm, I had to go say goodbye. He was a good kid with an amazing head on his shoulders and I was sure he would go down as one of the best Naval officers in history, without a doubt. It would be sad to see him go but we should still be able to keep in touch and, hopefully, see each other again someday.

* * *

John POV

All forces were gathering in the Ryloth system to prepare for our assault. Originally the Siskeen system had been chosen, the same system used for the space battle over Ryloth, as it was closer but it was decided a Republic sympathetic system would be best. Tatooine had also been considered but that was deemed too close, and we didn't want to use Jabba the Hutt more than we had too. Geonosis was out as High Command had decided it would be best to arrive as a single force rather than dribs and drabs.

Upon arriving in the system I had noted we were the last to arrive, not really surprising as we were coming from the other side of the galaxy. Because of this we would be allowed to refuel, resupply and reinforce our fleet via the newly established Ryloth Republic military station. Our new men and supplies had been transferred to the station and had been awaiting our arrival. It took nearly 6 hours to get everything on board, checked in and squared away, we had nearly exhausted our supplies by stretching them to cover a job we were ill prepared to handle.

With that done Kenobi, the only High Jedi General, a member of the Military High Command, ordered us to wait until 1600 hours to give my men some rest. That gave us 4 hours to get some rest before we jump into it.

Soon it was all hands on deck and we were into hyperspace. Half an hour later, 40 minutes at most, we were greeted by the Republic blockade around the planet who wished us luck and jumped out of the system, they were leaving to resupply as they needed to get entirely new legions to replace the ones wiped out by the Geonosians. Now it begins.

* * *

Rex POV

Our initial landing had been rough. The Chief was leading Bull so he had dropped with them, which started as the Gunships were just leaving the hangar, how such a big guy and such a big dog could fit into such a small pod was beyond me. They landed on the top of the canyon and set to work securing our LZ.

It was rough, hard, hot and we lost more than we normally do as we couldn't get drop ODST's on the AA guns and take them out, not with them being a part of the foundry. Once all the gunships had off loaded our troops Chief told me to take Storm into the cave system to prepare for our flanking run while he took command of the main force and marched on to the objective. As soon as I entered the caves the thing that hit me was the smell.

I've been to a lot of different planets and a lot of different environments, but nothing smelt quite like Geonosis. Caves usually had an earthy smell but these just smelt rotten. The scent brought back a flood of memories of the last time I was here. The claustrophobia, the echoing screams of those dragged into the darkness and the carceses of dead troopers used as incubaters for Geonosian eggs, as well as the first meal for when they hatch. Geonosians were disgusting creatures. They lay their eggs inside of other beings to warm them and let them hatch, along with being a food source for the baby grubs. The speed in which Geonosians grow allows them to repopulate rapidly and would have resulted in either overpopulation or the bugs colonising other planets if the Queen's didn't stop reproducing when their hives reached a certain number.

Watching as the babies of the monsters that haunt your nightmares eat their way out of your brothers was bad enough. The fact that the eggs need heat to hatch is worse. This is because the body needs to be alive to produce heat. These bug bastards force feed the troopers after filling their bodies with eggs so that the troopers don't die, which results in the most bone chilling screams as the grubby larva start eating their way out in the tens or hundreds. We had made sure to inform all men they were to shoot any trooper they came across that was webbed to the wall, it would be a better death and would kill the bugs inside.

I remembered Kicker, one of the ODST's I trained beside. He had been taken during the first raid on the droid foundries that the ODST's took part in, after securing the arena. On the way out we found him webbed to a wall so we shot off the webs and dragged him outside. A field medic said he was woozy and dehydrated but otherwise fine which is why an hour later he insisted on getting back on his feet and fighting. For the next two days we fought side by side, returning to the 501st the day after he had been taken and rescued. During the 501st final assault he started grabbing at his chest. 2 minutes later he had dropped to his knees and started spitting up blood. I rushed to his side and was with him as he was screaming and coughing, blood spilling out of his mouth. Until finally, he stopped screaming. This proved to be a bad sign when he coughed up a bloody grub. I think the shock was what made him stop because he was definitely still alive when he started convulsing and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Well, that was before his eyes exploded and grubs started falling out. He fell to the ground dead at that.

We were all so shocked we didn't know what to do and just stood there staring. Then the grubs started bursting out the rest of his skin and we all panicked. By the time we had stopped firing you couldn't tell that what was left was once a corpse, let alone a human one. I hear it was even worse back at medical. When the grubs started hatching I heard the Captain in charge of defending the medical bay panicked so badly he ordered Flame Troopers to burn down the medical tents and for AT-TE's to fire on them for good measure. By the time they were done you couldn't tell ash from sand it was so burnt. Lucky we had confined the rescued individuals to one sector otherwise all our wounded would have died back then.

I was so lost it my nightmares I hadn't felt when a trooper was shaking me to get my attention for directions.

'Ye-Ye-Yes. Yes, yes. Um, we need to, huh, go this way. Gulp. Remem-um-Remember to stab all alcoves. We don't want to, to, to. We don't want to let them know we're here.' I had to get myself back under control. I few hard breaths later and I was shoving the memories back into a box, locked in the back of my mind, finally ready. I may have been running on autopilot for the rest of our march down the tunnels but my thrust into any passing alcove was far harder than any of Storms, it helped to hear the bugs squeal. The Geonosians sleep in these little alcoves so we were stabbing them so we didn't wake them, though the screams did eventually wake the rest.

Tunnel after tunnel we stabbed those we could and shot those we couldn't. The sounds of those Geonosian blasters reverberated down the corridors, but they were just the backing track in this horror song, because the screams of those dragged away were the vocals. They say that if you learn something without music you can recall it better when you aren't listening to music and that when you learn something to a piece of music, if you listen to the same piece of music you can remember what you learned easier. Well I knew this song and dance better than anyone.

Hack, slash, shoot. Hack, slash, shoot. My blood, my temper, was rising with the music, becoming a crescendo all of it's own. Building and building and building. My heart thrumming in the pitch black, beating louder and louder, until...

Silence.

I threw my helmet off as the world slowed and blurred. Sounds muted, my vision darkened and I couldn't even feel the ground when I dropped to my knees. All I could see, feel, hear was the sound of the sun as it beat a rhythm on my skin. But slowly, the world returned.

I could feel my lungs work in my chest, hear the breath leave my mouth. Next was a low hum, like a flat lining heart monitor. Now colours were coming back, browns and oranges and a spec of blue. Muffled words entered my ears as I felt myself sway back and forth.

All at once I realised that the trooper in front of me was shaking me back and forth, shouting at me, _what do we do, what do we do_. I was put on the back foot. I swung my head around and saw troopers running everywhere, not knowing what to do, I saw battle droids marching and I saw Geonosians flying.

'WE'RE TRAPPED SIR. WE HAVE GEONOSIANS COMING FROM THE TUNNELS AND ARE TRAPPED BETWEEN BATTLE DROIDS AND THE WALL.' Okay. Okay. I got this. The wall was about 0.75 klicks away, giving us about 500 meters of room before we were in range of its guns. I ordered the men to move towards the wall and take cover about 300 meters from our current position. The trooper hoisted me to my feet, putting his shoulder under mine, so he could help drag me to cover. When we got to a decent sized rock he swung me behind it and started laying down fire next to me, asking again, _what do we do_. I immediately jumped on the radio.

'THIS IS CAPTAIN REX. WE ARE TRAPPED BETWEEN THE WALL AND A DROID BATTALION, WITH GEONOSIAN SUPPORT. I REPEAT. TRAPPED BETWEEN WALL AND DROIDS, WITH GEONOSIAN SUPPORT. REQUEST IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE.' Nothing. I tried again, still nothing.

This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be happening. Not even a month in and I had been betrayed by two commanding officers. I need you Master Chief. Please.

My comm crackled to life. Oh, thank the Gods. The Chief was coming personally with ODST support. My heart was racing as the relief flooded my body. With a quick shake of my head I got it back on straight, or at least pointing in the right direction. I grabbed my SMG, having left my Magnum and knife with my helmet back near the tunnels, and stood up out of cover. But, as I was firing, the SMG stopped working. I was trying to fix it but I was just getting more and more frustrated with the damn thing.

'Fuck… Fuck, fuck, FUUUCK.' With that final roar I swung my right arm across my body, from right to left, and threw the gun at them. As I did this about 3 rows of Geonosians and droids were swept off their feet and slammed into the left side canyon wall, crumpling at the bottom. The battle field stood still for a second.

'Give me your pistol.'

'W-w-what?!' I growled at the trooper.

'Your pistol.' He gave it to me and I walked out of cover, left arm raised with pistol in hand. I fired a shot, not caring were it hit, which seemed to shock both sides into action.

'WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR? LET'S GO.' I rallied the men into a charge and rushed these kriffing bastards, firing with my pistol and crushing anything that got close with my augmented arm. A quick jerk of my head left a blaster bolt flying by my head. My anger and frustration was building again and I needed to let it out. I threw my right hand out, pushing all that anger and frustration and _hatred_ into a desire to just… push them. I watched a strip of the enemy column fly backwards and felt as all those emotions I pushed into what was, undeniably, a Force techniques leave my body. Now I just felt tired, drained. I didn't know much about the Force, there were two sides and one relied on emotion while the other didn't, but this didn't feel like anything Ahsoka or General Skywalker told me about it.

Blue blaster bolt just whizzed past my head, leaving me to watch as the ODST's mowed down what was left of the droids. A large explosion happened in the background as the foundry went up in smoke. I turned to look at the battlefield, at all our dead. I didn't feel anything when I looked at the droids but a little bit of satisfaction entered me when I looked at the Geonosians dead and splattered across the floor. As I was looking around I noticed a flutter from a pair of wings. I grabbed the pistol from my holster and stalked over to disgusting insect and slammed my foot into it's back. As I aimed the pistol an armoured hand grabbed the gun.

'Sir. He…' The Chief cut me off.

'Dead bugs don't talk.'

'What if I don't want them talking?' He let go and took a step back. With a quick look at the squirming Geonosian I fired.

'Later.' I gave him a nod. The Chief wanted to leave a few bugs alive so they could spread the word of their massacre, spread the fear. I didn't want them talking because then they would start talking about my use of the Force and I wanted that information contained, _Later_ , meant I would have to explain this to him at a more convenient time.

As everything caught up to me I felt even more drained so I just took myself over to the canyon wall and slumped myself at the base of it. Soon, the AT-TE's started stomping past, heading for the wall, and so I turned my head to watch. A constant barrage of fire tore through the wall, shot after shot flaking chunks off. By the time they were finished the Wall was reduced to little more than rumble and it was time to move out to meet at the rendezvous point with the rest of the army. I picked myself off the ground and started heading out with the rest of them, making sure to catch up with the head of the column. I check my Chrono and found we had been at this for more than 7 hours, no wonder I was so tired, it was 11 o'clock at night. Not that Geonosis knew that. It's sun was beating down even hotter than when we started. Sometimes, I really hate Galactic Standard Time.

* * *

John POV

Just looking around the rendezvous point I knew I wasn't looking forward to this meeting. The men were broken. I had seen the same thing last time but it hadn't gotten any better now either, despite the fact the were nearly all experienced soldiers. Geonosis was a special kind of hell that tortured your mind and body in such a way that it will forever be scarred, just look at Rex. From the reports of both Storm and the Captain himself there were at least two instances where the Captain broke down due to sever PTSD flashbacks. Rex, the Captain of the 501st since the start of the war, who had been on every battlefield from Reecee to Ryloth, getting through them all relatively unscathed, had been beaten down by this place, this special brand of hell. I would have to look into what to do with him later. But looking at the men, I knew this meeting wouldn't be a good one.

Upon entering the command tent I had immediately been greeted by General Kenobi and Commander Tano, a greeting I returned. Everyone was very subdued, even Skywalker. Kenobi started off the meeting with Point Wind. It seems the problems started from the outset, in that most of the 212th didn't make it to the landing zone, ending up being spread out over a large strip of land that ended at Point Wind. Then we find out that the hill that was supposed to act as the natural defensive cover for the landing, before they assaulted the factory, was in fact a Hive Mound.

Hive Mounds were like the spired Geonosian buildings, in that they connected to an underground hive, but lacked those towering structures. Hive Mounds were actually the base of all the Spires, where the Geonosian workers come out of the Hive to start building their buildings. Kenobi had been unfortunate enough to have landed with less than a third of his overall force and then have to face a full Geonosian Hive. Apparently, this lead to a fighting retreat by the 212th, picking up their stragglers along the way. After finding and losing men Kenobi managed to set up a basic defensive line behind a large cluster of downed Gunships about 1.2 klicks out of his original landing zone. Kenobi estimates that, at this time, his total forces numbered just over half a full legion, being closer to 55% than 60%.

As they were being pinned down by the droids Commander Tano had volunteered to lead several teams of Commandos to flank round the Geonosians and attack their Hive directly. After being given the green light by Kenobi, Tano lead a force of 100 men in a wide sweeping arc to avoid the Geonosians that were firing on the 501st. Of these 100 men, 25 teams of Commando's, only 42 men came back. This was unprecedented. During the first battle, teams numbering 40 Commandos had assaulted similar Hives and had experienced casualty rates of one or two men per Hive. When asked what happened Tano reported that they entered the Hive and encountered the Geonosians, as expected, but had also found clone troopers. The weird thing was they weren't webbed but free to move. Tano absorbed them into her forces and moved through the Hive until they found the Queen. It was at this point the troopers Tano had picked up turned to fire on their brothers. After suppressing the turn coats and killing the Queen, Tano had found out that a Geonosian parasite could enter a person's body and take over its host. Just when we thought we knew the worst of this hellhole it throws something new at us. On her way out she had rescued at least 65 clone troopers that had been webbed to the walls and, with them and the remaining Commandos, attacked the Geonosians from the rear, finally meeting back up with the 212th.

She was shaking since she first mentioned the infected clones but it got worse when she mentioned the clones she had saved. Kenobi then explain he had the 65 rescued clone euthanized to prevent the spread of the grub infection, he apparently hadn't informed her of the Geonosians proclivities to kidnapped clones. It was a shit show all around. Final estimates for the troop strength of the 212th was close to 42%, including armour. Every battalion consisted of 30,000 men, even the armour. This meant, as it needed a crew of 6, an AT-TE battalion would have 5,000 AT-TE's. At 42% Kenobi didn't even have a full third of a second battalion, nearly 38,000 men left out of an original 90,000.

Mundi seemed to have fared better, in that he hadn't even reached the landing zone and so didn't deal with a full Hive, but he did have his own problems. His armour seemed to have been given special priority by the AA guns and so had ordered an emergency landing to save as many as he could. This landing put them in the open plains, directly within sight of the factory. As soon as the 516th had landed they were under fire. Mundi called in for a bombing run on the factory and was left to hold out for as long as possible. 16 minutes later his bombers had arrived and hammered the facility, allowing Mundi to start his charge. Once the dust from the bombers had settled Mundi and his men were exposed again and were, this time, without the cover from the Gunships. After a hard slog up to, and then through, the factory Mundi had destroyed his target and came to meet Kenobi and the 212th at the designated rendezvous.

I went next and talked about our part of the mission. Due to the foundry being inside of a canyon, relying on natural defences more than artificial ones, we had experienced reduced AA fire than other Points, allowing for all the 501st to land at Point Stone. It had been a textbook landing with a textbook assault. We marched through the canyon and, with Bull's overwatch position, managed to locate and eliminate any and all enemy forces and ambushes on the way to the foundry. Once there, I lead the ODST's of Bull in an assault on the gun emplacements that were surrounding the actual foundry under the cover of AT-TE fire. All was going well, nothing out of the ordinary, which in itself was out of the ordinary for the 501st, especially when you consider the fact that we are on Geonosis. We entered the facility and took it in record time due to a low droid presence. Then there was the Geonosians.

After just a few minutes of fighting them they seemed to grow more and more agitated. Once a set of Droidekas had been released on us I charged them and punted one all the way to the other side of the factory line before picking up another, swinging myself round and throwing the droid at the Geonosians, using it like a discus. With that the Geonosians fled as fast as they were able, leaving us to finish up and blow the foundry. The only real problem came from the missing droids and the fact that they had been sent to trap Rex and Storm Legion.

It was Skywalkers turn next and things didn't look good. For a start, he hadn't said anything since I arrived, not exactly usual given our previous interactions but note worthy all the same, and he seemed very solemn and subdued. It turns out that he and his men had been halted. Skywalkers command had been based around his leadership skills and tactics, basic. He was a phenomenal soldier but if I was in full control of the army I would never have him as more than a field officer, probably making him a commanding officer of a Spec Ops team. His minor flares in creativity and his surprising ability to follow orders means he would make a good leader for a team but not for a group as large as a full legion, let alone two.

With his basic leadership skills and standout fighting abilities Skywalker needed a legion to match. His AT-TE's, his Juggernauts, the Shock Troopers and the Galactic Marines, all were designed to create the single greatest brute force division in the entire army, a clone army equivalent of a charging Bull Rancor or enraged Krayt Dragon. For the droids to be able to stop something that should have been able to roll right over them was worrying.

First, Skywalker explains that he and his men landed under heavy fire, leading them to land a least a full mile away from Point Rain. However, once the Juggernauts were down on the ground there was a significant reduction in AA fire as the cannons turned to face the bigger threat. With the reduced fire a lot of Skywalkers men landed with little difficulty which allowed the Jedi to start his assault. The Juggernauts went first and rushed through the droid lines, not stopping to fight them, and crushing everything under wheel. After breaking the line the Juggernauts unleashed everything on the AA and artillery, decimating it. With the droids turning to combat the immediate threat, Skywalker and his men rushed the droids and cut a swath through them. The droids turned their focus back to Skywalker but his momentum allowed him and his men to just carry on pushing through, perfectly showcasing the well constructed nature of his division. As he was moving up to regroup with the Juggernauts Skywalker noted several go up in smoke, a difficult, but not impossible, feat. The only problem was they were simultaneous.

Reports from the troopers indicate a new type of super tank, numbering around a hundred strong. Considering the Juggernaut requires a crew of 12 a battalion can consist of 2,500, if fully stocked, but to due to how expensive they are most usually only have 1,000 per battalion. This means that each Juggernaut is also transporting 180 clone troopers within for rapid deployment. For a hundred tanks to be able to overwhelm 1,000 of our greatest war machines was dangerous, I could see why Skywalker was worried. To try and combat the tanks Skywalker ordered all rapid deployment troopers to get out and help, which then brought out our second problem. The Defoliators.

18,000 men gone in the blink of an eye. Over half a battalion wiped clean. With his Juggernauts being overwhelmed, and having only successfully destroying 16 of these new tanks, Skywalker pull the Juggernauts out. Thankfully they weren't stuck doing wide turning arcs to get out due to the rear driver and the fact that they go just as fast backwards as they do forwards. With his Tanks in retreat, and the momentum of his men lost, Skywalker decided to set up some trenches and dig his men in, using his AT-TE's as artillery.

With 3 sets of trenches dug, and his men piling in, things looked to have reached a stalemate. Poggle the lesser didn't seem to be willing to send in his super tanks and instead had them set up a defensive perimeter around the factory and used the Defoliators to bombard Skywalker and his men. The AT-TE's shot as many shells out of the sky as they could but some still landed near the troopers. Thankfully, the way the trenches were designed the waves hit the raised trench walls and stopped, protecting the men. The only way for the shells to work is if they landed directly inside the trenches but that just wasn't feasible, and with the jagged design it was also ineffective. The MAP's were being picked off by the At-TE's so Poggle retreated the MAP's to get them out of the AT-TE fire.

After an hour Skywalker believed that the stalemate had been set but the Defoliators returned and fired something Skywalker described as burning snow.

'White Phosphorus.' The table turned to me.

'It was a shell variant found by Fireteam Cobalt on Maridun when they found the recovered information on the Defoliators. It was designed to work in urban environments as the normal Defoliator shell is stopped by walls. The Phosphorus was a prototype shell that had yet to be tested but was believed to be highly effective in urban environments due to it not being restricted by walls. The only problem, the Separatists noted, was that it was unpredictable, as it spread according to the wind, meaning it could come back.' For once Skywalkers retort didn't sound like a personal jab at me, it seemed more aimed at the Geonosians.

'They tested it alright. They just tested it on my men. They tested it until they ran out of shells, and now they know it works, they will be making more.' With this. Skywalkers report was finished.

We had our work cut out for us. The 501st and the 516th were the only legions that suffered casualties with the estimate range, the 212th and Krayt having significantly higher injury and mortality rates, though the 501st Storm battalion suffered heavy loses, as did the 516th armoured battalion. With our total losses we were scratching 255,000, 53% of our original 480,000. We came with nearly 2.5 times more men than the first assault, to have been reduced to this in less than a day was something else, and we weren't even trying to take the whole planet.

Kenobi had requested reinforcements and so High Command had sent one of the Elite Corps to come and assist us. The Elite Corps were a set of highly trained legions that operated along a similar vain as the Star Corps, in that they were sent to the worst of the worst in the war. The difference between the two was that the Star Corps were assault legions and the Elite Corps were support legions. This meant that Star Corps were sent to start fights and take planets, like the 501st were, while the Elite Corps were sent to reinforce where necessary, like Mundi's specialised 516th legion. General Luminara Unduli and the 41st Elite were selected to help our forces on the ground and would arrive within 6 hours, leaving us to hold out till then. Once she arrives we will need to capture the factory and take Poggle the Lesser. If he is allowed to escape he will then incite rebellion across the planet and we may have to abandon it, we couldn't allow that to happen.

To help bare the weight of those 6 hours we set up a rotation schedule for trench divisions. Three 2 hour shifts, with the 212th and 516th taking the first one. The 501st would be up next and take the second, with Krayt bringing up the rear and taking the final shift. With that all done we headed out to get ourselves ready and I went to find Rex. We needed to talk.


	27. Chapter 27

Rex POV

'When you told me you had nightmares, what did I say? Get some help. I must have said it in my head, or you were in yours, not listening. 'Cus your certainly in there now.' I got up from my cot and moved to my little foldout table. These field tents didn't have much besides the bed, table and armour box but were more than enough to cover the basics.

'Don't you walk away from me.' Cody grabbed my shoulder and spun me around.

'What do you want Cody?'

'You know what I want, for you to get better. I told you, I _told_ you, go see a counsellor precisely so shit like this doesn't happen.' This wasn't my first talking to, that honour belonged to the Chief, and I was getting kind of sick of them.

'Yeah, well... I didn't, okay. I didn't. And before you even ask _why_ , because I thought I getting better, alright. The nightmares were fading, I was having a great time with Ahsoka, with Riyo, Hevy, Fives, Jesse, everyone, even the Chief. I thought I had it under control but I didn't. And now you get your wish. As soon as I have another episode or we finish on the planet I will be shipped off with the rest of the nutcases on the Psychiatric Medical Leave list and have to go see a fucking head shrink.' Normally I would have been transferred out as soon as possible but the planet was on quarantine lockdown, no one was getting off, not until we had been checked for these brain controlling parasites Ahsoka had reported, they were even bringing a specially trained quarantine team in just to deal with it. The 41st were still landing to assist but had been given strict instructions to only take off helmets when in their assigned quarters, when this was over they too would go through the same quarantine checks. Though exceptions will be made for priority injuries to be take off world, even mental injuries if they are debilitating enough, we just get the check up at the medical facility rather than when the quarantine specialists arrive.

'Rex. I'm worried about you. You're not too proud a man to admit when you need help, so what's different this time?' I sighed and ran my fingers over my head. 'If it's because of Kicker, then…'

'Don't.' Kicker, he was… I didn't… I didn't want to talk about him, not even with Cody.

'Rex. What happened to Kicker wasn't your…'

'I said don't, okay, don't. He wasn't your friend, he was mine. He wasn't… he wasn't like us. He was a good soldier, a good ODST, the best, but he wasn't… He didn't deserve what happened. It was my fault, it should have been me.' Just thinking about it was putting me on edge, working up my nerves.

'Rex. It wasn't your fault, these things just happen.' I just started shaking my head.

'No. No, you weren't there, you don't understand. The Geonosian, they were coming for me. I wasn't good enough, I wasn't keeping an eye on my surroundings. And Kicker, he, he jumped in the way. He was the best, so good he could lookout for himself and me, while I wasn't good enough to just take care of myself. He didn't deserve to die screaming until his insides were so chewed up he started spitting them out. He didn't deserve to have his eyes gnawed at until they popped. He didn't deserve to die in this Hellhole. He deserved better.' Getting all my anger out at Cody left me so drained I just slumped onto my cot.

'It was all I wanted, to be the best soldier I could be. So that when I had kids they had a father they could be proud of. So that I could teach them to be the best, watch them make something of themselves. And I screwed myself up on day fucking one, with Kicker paying the price. I'm so screwed up I can't get my head on straight now. It should've been me.' Cody just walked over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder, leaving me to look up at him.

'Call me a selfish arsehole all you want, but I'm glad it wasn't. You're my best friend Rex and I don't want anything to happen to you. We grew up together, as best friends and brothers, and I will always choose you over any other. And I know Kicker felt the same, he wouldn't have jumped in front to save you otherwise.' We just stopped there, me looking up at my brother, him looking down at his.

'If you kiss me I'll take myself to the psychiatrist, you hear.' A single laugh bubbled out of Cody before he erupted into a full body laugh, something I couldn't help but join in.

'You're impossible.' I stared down at my hands, yeah impossible. 'Get yourself better. I can't keep looking after you.' He left at that, having completed his objective, getting me to actually talk about what was eating me up inside, I don't think that metaphor had ever been so relevant. Cody had a way of getting to the heart of a problem and fixing it, it was something that made him more than just another clone. Though I was thankful he wasn't aware quite how impossible I really was.

After my talk with the Chief, where he sidelined me to the command centre because he couldn't send me off planet yet, we had also discussed my… _unique display_ of skill. He agreed that we should suppress the information, keeping it as a last resort weapon if it was ever needed, and to not kick the Kilgain Hornet nest, those fuckers were vicious. He did, however, report it to Director Halsey, if just for some advise on what to do if nothing else. She had promised to look it to it and asked for a blood sample at our earliest convenience. It was also the first time I was glad for Storms lack of true independence, their reliance on orders from their commanders, as it meant that, because the Chief had given them explicit orders to not talk about what happened, they wouldn't. Leaving only Dr. Halsey, the Chief and I to talk about it freely.

I dropped back into the bed, planning on getting some rest until I was called to command, to help direct whatever plan the Generals came up with for capturing Poggle, now that General Unduli had arrived.

'I'm glad it wasn't you too.' I shot back up.

'Ahsoka.' She just walked in and closed the flap. While it hadn't plunged the tent into complete darkness, it had dimmed it quite significantly. It had been a few weeks, just over 3, since I had last seen her but she seemed to gain a sense of confidence she didn't posses when she was Skywalker's Padawan. I had heard about her transfer, and to be honest, I was happy about it. Skywalker had proven to be untrustworthy and Kenobi seemed a better fit for her. Ahsoka and I had kept in contact, as I had with Riyo, but it hadn't been anything significant, not really being able to have a good sit down and talk about what had been happening. The girl just walked over and plonked herself onto my pillow.

'Out of everyone in the galaxy, you're one of the few I will do anything to not see die.' I don't know how long we spent talking, me about my time under the Chief and how it felt to have a competent commander, more than competent, and her talking about her training under General Kenobi and a man named Bnar, or something.

'I'm even learning this super rare skill, that's been forgotten for centuries, called Battle Meditation. It's super useful. It's to help influence the troops on the battlefield, giving them a boost to help them in battle. And, I can use it while using my blaster. Master Kenobi has taken up my Mandalorian training too, along with help from Cody and Master Bnar.' It sound like she was working hard and was happy for it, I was glad. I was also pleased Kenobi allowed her to continue her Mando training even if I was disappointed I couldn't do it myself.

Eventually, I don't know how she did it, but Ahsoka managed to get me to lie down with my head in her lap as she ran her fingers over my head. It was the best sleep I had in a long time.

* * *

Ahsoka POV

Looking down at Rex brought a smile to my face. I had missed him. The Jedi were a cold group by nature, and while I will always be grateful to Master Plo for bringing me to the temple and look up to him for all he has done for me, I had always resented that. My mind had always been more combat orientated and that left me isolated from my cresh mates and my instructors who just couldn't understand me, who were to cold to care. Rex was the first person to really take a vested interest in me, who cared about me and gladly shared his world with me, the world of the Mandalorians. It was everything I had been looking for.

I found myself an ideology I agreed with, a true sense of what was right and what was best and the differences between the two. I had also found a father figure, a man who cared about my well being and development. I still thought of myself as a Jedi but I was Mandalorian too, I was just waiting to be adopted into Rex's Clan, if he had one. It was an interesting thought, did clones have Clans? Never mind, I could think about it later, when Rex was better, when, if, he decided to adopt me. That was something else I thought about a lot, never failing to get nervous about it. I would accept, without a doubt, but would he even ask /if I wanted to be adopted. I will admit I was worried he wouldn't.

The tent flap ruffled and the new Padawan, Barriss Offee, walked in.

'You're needed at the command centre.' We had a brief introduction, when Master Unduli arrived with Commander Gree and the rest of the 41st legion, but it had been overshadowed by my interactions with that Succubus, Cortana. It was bad enough when she called my Bubble Butt the first time but now she grabbed my butt when she did it too. I refuse to acknowledge I blushed in embarrassment when it happened, it was a flush of anger okay, I didn't like it at all…

Wait.

Who in hell said anything about _liking it_. Ahhhh. That damn Witch was in my head. As I said, My introduction had been overshadowed by that perverted creature of the night. Though I, thankfully, wasn't the only one to receive the Succubus' hospitality. It turns out Mirialan go dark green when they blush. This combined with her stammer left Barriss looking very cute.

Ahhh. Begone foul demon, this is my head not yours. You already live in the Master Chief's why do you need mine too. I gently moved Rex's head to the side and got up and followed Barriss.

Upon our entry into the command tent Barriss and I were immediately assaulted by the horny demon in human form. A twin slap to our rears with a wink brought a rush of heat to our checks. I will forever stand by my assessment that said heat was anger and I will take that assessment with me to the grave. Barriss was so embarrassed she used me as some sort of perversion shield as she hid behind me while the Succubus sauntering up to the Chief, whom she promptly draped herself across. No matter what anyone thinks of the Chief he had the patience, and fortitude, of a saint. To resist the temptress on a daily basis was no easy feat, and the fact he tried to reign her in was only another point in his favour.

'What? You know I like to browse, even if I'm not buying. I was only checking the merchandise they had in the back of the store.' I was going to kill her.

'Besides, they don't mind. They haven't complained and one is even showing off all she has to offer. You can't blame me for observing such fine wares on open display.' Dead. Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. She was _so_ dead. And I would toss her body off a cliff for good measure. That insufferable smirk made it worse. She knew that togruta's had a higher body temperature then nearly all other species, meaning most habitable planets were warm to us, making a desert planet like Geonosis a veritable furnace. I wore as little as possible while trying to remain moderately decent, how someone like Master Ti could wear such heavy robes was unthinkable though I suppose she got used to them. Mirialans had the opposite, being a moderately colder blooded species than most around the galaxy, meaning they usually wore heavier clothing than most. That smirk meant Cortana knew this but was purposely ignoring it to justify herself.

Now the sex starved monster had her fill we got onto our plan of attack. The major problem was the super tanks.

A few covert assaults over the past 6 hours, efforts to gain more intel even at the expense of lives, had found that laser weaponry worked best at getting through its shield and burning its hull. Shielding technology across the galaxy had been designed to combat solids, like slugger rounds and explosions, and plasma based weaponry. It was designed to stop matter from entering it which is why ships could still enter the atmosphere with their shields up, atmospheres being made of gas, but had to lower them to launch fighters, unless you used magnetic shields. Magnetic shields let matter pass through it while containing any gases, making them great for pressurising areas and sealing hull breaches. The only problems with it were they still let light pass through so wouldn't stop a laser and were limited in defensive capabilities as only plasma would be effected by the magnetic field. Another limit to magnetic shielding was we haven't found a way to use them to seal hull breaches unless we manually set them up, this meant people setting them up usually get shot when sealing a breach in combat. They were perfect for use when repairing ships though.

Lasers were a high intensity beam of light that bypassed shields as they had no mass for the shields to stop. Spartan laser took this concept and turned it up to the nth degree. A handheld super laser that could burn through the thick hull of a tank had been a pipe dream before the war broke out, even after it, making the Spartan laser the single most unique weapon to grace the galaxy. The design was a closely guarded secret, with the weapons only being manufactured on Kamino along with the clones armour. If either got into the hands of the enemy they they could replicate the laser or find ways to combat the armour, leading to a spike in mortality rates and we wouldn't be able to survive. Not against lasers, a way to defeat the clones armour and these new super weapons the droids were using.

Out of 7 covert assaults made only 2 had been successful, the third assault, the first one to switch from using rockets or powerful plasma bolts to the Spartan Lasers, and the sixth assault, where a trooper had gotten lucky and hit the repulsor lift under the tank which caused an overload, destroying it.

Our plan of attack was to rush the tanks, first with specific armoured divisions, then with infantry, leaving the rest of the armour to bring up the rear. The Juggernauts would draw the initial barrage of fire, providing cover for our infantry, with the AT-RT's following close behind. The AT-RT's had an array of explosives, from grenades to mines, that they would try to plant under the super tanks before following the Juggernauts in a wide, sweeping arc so as to retreat back to base while making sure they don't run over our own troops. The infantry would be charging behind the forward assault, keeping the 501st's Bull Rancor at the back. They were the only division with any sizeable amount of Spartan Lasers so would be the most valuable. We would try to overwhelm the tanks and get as close as possible so they can't use their highly effective rockets. The second set of armour consisted of the available AT-TE's and the 41st legions Stun Tanks. The Stun Tanks were the armoured battalion of the 41st and used composite beam technology, similar to those used on LAAT Gunship Bubble Turrets. They were both a type laser weaponry but relied on multiple beams to make one of any significance power so as to affect the world around us in any meaningful way, other than being an overpowered laser pointer. This is why the Spartan Laser was so unique. Not only did it not use composite beams, which was widely accepted as the way to make a laser weapon, but it was also more powerful than a laser weapon several times it size. The Spartan Lasers only downsides would be the fact that it overheated and had a relatively small battery. They had tried to compensate for this by making it fire in short bursts but that just meant you couldn't direct the beam to its targets as it was firing, as the shot would have ended right after you fire, meaning your aim needs to be impeccable. You won't be getting any lucky shots either, as the recoil only kicks in after firing. We were also hoping that, because the Stun Tanks disable rather than destroy, we could recover some of the super tanks for study.

While this was going on a second team would be using the gorge on the opposite side of the facility to go down to a level where we could cut our way through to the Hive tunnels under the foundry. Normally something like this would be done by ODST's, having been trained for infiltration and harassment tactics, perhaps Cortana had some ODST training as she did a lot of harassing, but due to Bull being needed on the front lines Barriss and I would be leading the 41st's ARC trooper division inside to assault the foundry. Normally ARC's are used more independently as scouts but they were the only Spec Ops legion, besides Bull, in any shape to be destroying the facility on its own, Foxtrots Commando squads not having fared well during our botched landing.

Despite the fact that Barriss knew the ARC troopers, being a part of the 41st herself, I had been given command over this key part of the battle. This was because out of the two of us I was the one with experience with Geonosians and their Hives. We would be timing our exiting of the tunnels with the start of the main assault so that we could disrupt any reinforcements for the super tanks and to delay and destroy the MAP's

* * *

Ahsoka POV

Moving a battalion through the gorge hadn't been as hard as I was expecting. No, the hard part was getting them all into the tunnels. Due to the nature of the Hives we didn't have direct access to them meaning we had to cut our way in, a simple task. The thing was that due to the Hive tunnels winding around the inside of the rock face we only had a single point we could cut through to enter, leaving an entire battalion to squeeze through that one hole. To try and have some semblance of order Barriss had advised I allow the ARC's to move throughout the Hive as they wished, killing any Geonosians they came across, all finally converging on the foundry though the many different tunnels that linked it to the Hive. I deferred to Barriss advice and allowed the troopers to make their own way through the tunnels.

After making sure the last of the troopers had entered the tunnels, and hearing the distant echoes of blaster fire down the corridors, Barriss and I rushed off with Barriss calling out directions for the fastest route through the tunnels.

'Left up ahead.' I carried on past the right turn coming up, heading straight onto the next junction, only to be met with a dead end.

'Nothing.' Barriss looked to be a little flustered at being wrong, she had assured me that she had memorised the layout of the area and knew it all from heart.

'I-I-I was sure…' She trailed off at the end, looking adorably insecure. Her arms had started to hug herself, head dipping and shifting from leg to leg.

'Let's consult the map then.' I took out my holoemmiter and displayed the map that had been given to all ARC troopers before setting off from base. After tracing our way through the tunnels I noticed we had to go up then left.

'Score 1 for the map, and score 0 for Barriss.' I had said it in good humour but Barriss just flushed dark green again in embarrassment. To try and hide it she grabbed the top of her hood and pulled it down but it only covered her eyes, leaving her blush in full view. She looked so cute.

'W-w-w-what?!' Barriss' head snapped to me, with eyes so adorably wide they looked like they belonged more on a Porg than a Mirialan. Shit, did I say that out loud.

'Ahh, what I meant was… I mean… Your blush, the green looks nice.' She just blushed harder and went back to hiding behind her hood, or at least trying too.

'I mean, it looks nice with the rest of your face.' Now she was letting out these cute embarrassed whimpers. Okay, officially shutting up now. Suitably embarrassed myself, I stammered out the suggestion that perhaps we should carry on. With a furious set of nods from Barriss we continued on our way with Barriss calling out directions in a cute little stammer. Right, that settled it, once this was all over I needed, like, a full exorcist or something to get that horny demon witch out of my head, she had already dug herself in deeper than I would have liked.

Thankfully, we were soon getting out of the Hive and into the foundry. It seemed some of the fighting had spilled out of the tunnels and into the main compound as battle droids filled the main assembly room and they were fighting with the ARC troopers, the Geonosians were even activating the droids just coming off the assembly line. Finally having something to distract myself from Barriss, I jumped into the fight head first, not stopping until I had cleared a small area of the floor. Barriss quickly joined me, having cut her own path through, and we jumped onto the conveyor belts. With our Force Enhanced abilities Barriss and I quickly jumped from belt to belt, planting explosives along the way, until we reached the top. Once we had reached the top we jumped down, using the Force to soften the landing, commed the ARC's to retreat into the tunnels then detonated the explosives.

As the factory exploded around us Barriss and I dove into the tunnels, I covered my head as the assembly lines exploded and crashed to the ground above me. It was very disorientating actually. Normal explosions registered more to togruta due to our montrals, they allowed us to sense movement around us by using a small bit of echolocation. With all the banging and clattering above I was getting a bit of a headache, only made worse by the fact that the vibrations were travelling through the earth and then reverberating down the halls, amplifying what should have just been a minor inconvenience. As I slowly got my bearings again I took my hands from over my head and used them to push myself to my knees. My chest felt a little weird but that could have been from the landing.

As I opened my eyes a dark green colour with several dark diamonds was right in my face. Barriss was adorably wide eyed again. I took a second to assess our situation. Barriss was on her back and I was on top of her, legs on either side. Not unreasonable, we had dived into the same hole at the same time. I then noticed the weird feeling on my chest was actually Barriss' hands. She must have tried to push me off of her. All of this is completely normal. So why in hell was I blushing so bad. I scrambled to my feet and turned away from her and brushed myself off, if I didn't acknowledge it, it didn't happen. With Barriss also on her feet we continued down the tunnels to move to the vehicle production line.

It seems the troopers had done a good job as the garage, were the finished vehicles were stored, looked to be littered with these new MAP vehicles. Now all that was left to do was capture Poggle the Lesser. Barriss and I left the troopers to finish up here while we headed to the command centre. Reports from Command seemed to be overly positive, with all super tanks being reported destroyed or disabled along with all droid reinforcements. Some troopers, it seemed, had even entered the factory to help the ARC's.

As we moved to the command centre Barriss quickly dragged me to the wall and crept up to the door. A series of clicks could be faintly heard in the room but I didn't understand a word of it.

'He's not here.' She was whispering

'What?'

'Poggle, the Geonosians say he left because he was fleeing from the Demon and his blue eyed Imps.' Huh?

'I don't understand.' Barriss turned to look at me.

'They mean the Master Chief and the ODST's. The way they describe this Demon lines up with the stories I've heard of the Spartans and the only one on the planet is the Master Chief. The blue eyes must be the ODST's Jaig Eyes. He must have fled when the Master Chief arrived and his ODST's started destroying the super tanks.' While I was listening to what she said, my mind was more occupied by the fact that Barriss had yet to let go of my hand. It was very soft. Noticing where my eyes were she quickly let go quickly and fled into the command centre, apprehending the Geonosians with little protest. We called some troopers to take our prisoners somewhere they could be interrogated for the location of Poggle the Lesser, while some more moved to secure the room and all the information inside. With this done I reported our success to Command and Barriss and I were recalled to make our report in person.

* * *

Ahsoka POV

Entering the command centre was a weird experience, not because there was anything unusual about it but because nearly everyone in it was acting weird. The only one not was the Master Chief, which in itself was weird as he was the only one acting as such. Master Kenobi had a bemused look on his face while Master Unduli was giving me a glare that looked like she was trying to kill me with her eyes. Rex was shift uncomfortably and Cortana had a devil's grin on her face. Even Skywalker had an unreadable expression on his face. The Master Chief decided to ignore the others and their weird behaviour and called for our report.

All they way through I had kept an eye on the rest of the people in the room. They knew something. During the report they shifted at odd parts, the intensity of their looks fluctuating as we were describing what happened. By the end of it I had enough and called them out on it.

'We monitored your comms.' Cortana's grin hadn't lessened in the slightest, in fact it had grown.

'Huh?' Not my most eloquent moment but it was enough. Cortana spoke up again.

'Luminara here was worried about her Padawan, so she had your comms open at all times so she could come to her Padawans rescue if needed. We heard everything.' My stomach dropped and a chill ran up my spin. No.

'I have to agree though. Barriss does look cute when she blushes.' She's dead. I don't know when and I don't know how but I promise, as soon as I get an opportunity, I was going to kill that demon succubus and do the galaxy a favour by freeing it from her horny grasp.

Her and the Master Chief made sense now, he was a fearsome Demon of war and she was a Demon in the sheets. No, wait, that came out wrong. Ahhhhhhh. The sooner I kill her the better, maybe then she will leave my head.


	28. Chapter 28

John POV

'I hated you, you know.' It seems Skywalker had come to seek me out.

'Mandalorians I mean. Ever since I was young I hated you and your people. I grew up a slave on Tatooine and remember seeing Mandalorian after Mandalorian stroll through the streets, like they were so confident they could handle anything that they didn't need to worry about anyone. I looked up to them, I wanted to have that confidence, that power and respect that they commanded just because they wore a certain set of armour.

'One day I tried to get a Mandalorian to help free me and my mother. He just turned away, brushed me off. I was only about 6 at the time but it had crushed me, the ones I looked up to had turned me away without a second thought. I realised then that Mandalorians were a cold and heartless people, who only cared about something when it benefited them. I grew to hate you.

'After becoming a Jedi I didn't see another Mandalorian until I met you on Coruscant. When you ignored me, looked down on me like I was nothing, I was reminded of that Mando back on Tatooine. I rushed you, expected to show you, show Mandalore, they were wrong for not taking me in when they had the chance. Then you beat me with nothing more than a kick. The fact you held off Obi-wan, the man I looked up to most, only rubbed salt in the wound.

'I always saw you people as cold, uncaring monsters after one of you crushed what little hope I had left as a slave, but now I think I understand why your people are the way they are. I've been to wars across the galaxy, trying to stop them as a Jedi peacekeeper, or at least I thought they were wars. Being here, fighting in the Clone Wars has given me a real look into what war actually is, what it can do to a person. I realise now that it wasn't because you didn't care about other people that you could ignore the plights of slaves so easily but because you had become so numb to suffering you didn't see the suffering of slaves to be anywhere near the suffering soldiers face everyday. While I'm not sure how much I agree with that, that soldiers suffer more than, I will admit that slaves at least know they are going to live at the end of the day and what to expect from the next. Soldiers have to face horrors everyday, not knowing what it will be this time, if this horror will be the one to end you, and that messes you up in a different way.

'I guess what I'm trying to say is sorry. I realise it can't be easy to see people so inept commanding your brothers and making mistakes which result in their needless deaths and I'm sorry for my part in that.' Well, that was something. It was hard to admit when you were wrong about something unless something drastic happened that convinced you of your wrong doings, even then it didn't always work.

'What brought this on?' It wasn't a snide comment, or me acting smug, I was genuinely interested.

'After seeing what that burning snow, that White Phosphorus, did to my men I realised the true horrors of war and what it can do to a person when they get used to seeing it. As for why I started to notice it, well, someone very close to me called me a monster recently. I was so shocked I didn't know what to do. I tried looking for a reason, any reason, why they would think of me like that. Then it came to me. I didn't care about my men, I brushed off their suffering just because I hated you and had grown used to seeing their suffering. I became the same as the Mandalorian I had despised so much. I had become cold and unfeeling to the plight of another. So I'm sorry, to you and the 501st.' I thanked Skywalker who then walked away, having said his piece.

I turned my attention back to the sandstorm outside. After Poggles escape Cortana had begun an interrogation of the Geonosian prisoners. After nearly 3 hours she had coaxed the location of Poggles hiding place out of them. He had hidden himself away in the Progate Temple. It was a location I remembered from the First Battle of Geonosis but had never been too myself. It was one of the major areas of bombardment and was later the scene of a Geonosian massacre when they refused to surrender.

General Unduli had taken Green Battalion with her to find and capture Poggle but we lost contact due to a sand storm. Her Padawan, Commander Offee, was currently working with Commander Tano to set up the rigid quarantine procedures needed to catch the various parasites on the planet. With the team of quarantine specialists being so small we had decided to restrict them to performing the deep scans necessary to identify victims, so the two Commanders were working with various teams of medical troopers from our current numbers to perform the initial scans. Of course, we would have to clear these troopers and the Commanders first, before ensuring they remain in isolation until everyone has been cleared, so that the parasites don't break quarantine.

Speaking of numbers, our current troop numbers were grim, 92% of all forces were accounted for and only 56% of total forces remained combat operational. 14% were wounded in some capacity and 22% were currently dead with 8% unaccounted for. The only reason the number of combat ready troops was so high was thanks to the support for the 41st legion, whose presence had significantly helped to boost our numbers, though they were bad either way we looked at it. The First Battle hadn't been anywhere near this disastrous and then we were taking a whole planet with less troops and terrible tactics, we should never have sunk anywhere near our current level. I was currently thinking of reasons why we had failed so terribly. So far I had only come up with one reason, technology.

The droid army was constantly evolving, coming up with new weapons, vehicle or droids or they were improving what they already had. The clone army had made no improvements in terms of technology since the Clone Wars began. We had the same armour, weapons and vehicles and now the droids knew how to deal with them and had made improvements to beat them. We were falling behind.

I was doing this as I had been the one selected to report our progress to the Chancellor and I was sure he would ask about the numbers, I know I would. I was also waiting on a check in from Green Battalion. With the sand storm so bad our communications had been disrupted and so I was waiting to reestablish contact.

The other Generals were currently in a Jedi meeting of some sort to determine who was to be sent to deliver relief supplies to General Windu on Dantooine. While Dantooine was a relatively minor planet in terms of the war effort it still held a large number of droids. A Republic victory their will help to reduce the droid numbers by a notable percentage and allow us to stage a future assault on the Muun homeworld of Muunilinst, one of the Separatist Purse Worlds and the headquarters of the Banking Clans.

With the storm dying down we had finally managed to make contact with Green Battalion. Apparently a small detachment, lead by Commander Gree, had been set up to guard the entrance to the Hive tunnels under the building but they had lost contact with the main force. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, due to the depths of the tunnels it was to be expected, but the troubling thing was a single Geonosian had made contact with the detachment and delivered a holocommunicator with a prerecorded message from Poggle the Lesser before the Geonosian had been detained. Unsure of what to do Gree had remained at his post and tried to contact our forces here, only now being successful. I had him transfer the message to me while a protocol droid was sent up to the bridge and the Generals were called to meet me here. As soon as they all arrived I had the droid work on translating the message.

'Greetings Demon. It seems you are nearly as familiar with the sands of this world as I am, though I cannot say I am glad for your return. Your forces sent to my domain were weak, feeble, I expected better from you. Though perhaps they were not yours, they wore no Eyes of Blue. You have come, once more, to my home and trampled it to the ground, this cannot be ignored. I challenge you, Demon, and your army of Blue Eyed Imps, to come and face me, face the army of the Underworld. The victor here decides the fate of my home. If you win, my people will submit to the rule of Hell. If I win, all of you will leave, and the Underworld will rule again. To show the seriousness of my offer I present your missing Jedi.' General Unduli appeared into view on the hologram, battered and bruised but alive. 'She will remain in my care until your arrival. Come alone Demon, only you and your men. If we see a single Imp without the Eyes of Blue, she dies.' The message ended there.

It was a trap, to be sure, but I didn't see how. A Hive, even one of the size under Progate Temple, shouldn't have the numbers necessary to take on everyone from the 501st, even with our reduced strength. Could he mean he only wanted to face the ODST's, they were the only ones given Jaig eyes, if so I could just have all my troopers paint them on, they had all more than earned them. There was something we were missing. The only other thing of note was how he kept referring to the Underworld. With the Geonosians living underground it wasn't hard to make a connection, but the emphasis he placed on it just didn't fit quite right.

Everyone at the table was debating what to do, I was in favour of an all out assault that used as many available forces as we could spare. This was a trap and I didn't want to walk into one if I could help it, especially when I didn't know what the surprise was. I was, unfortunately, overruled. As the highest ranking member here Kenobi had command and he had ordered me to take what remained of the 501st Infantry Battalions and try to bring General Unduli back alive. If I had to go into such a blatant trap then I at least wanted to ensure the best chance of victory, so I had requested to equip Bull Rancor with Mundi's flamethrowers. ODST's were meant for clustered terrain, urban environments or within enemy positions, and had been trained to traverse obstacles, they would be limited in their effectiveness in those tunnels, giving them flamethrowers would only increase that. General Kenobi agreed.

With our new orders received I had all troopers from Torrent and Storm, plus those without them from Bull Rancor, to paint the Jaig Eyes on their helms. I also ordered all troopers that they were to show no quarter in those tunnels and were to execute all but the 501st troopers in the tunnels, even if they surrendered or were a part of Green Battalion, we could take no chances. If Poggle wanted a fight with the armies of Hell, he was going to get one.

The last thing I needed before we moved out was my translator. Kenobi had given me orders to at least attempt negotiations with Poggle for the safe return of Luminara Unduli and for that I needed to understand what he was saying. A protocol droid wouldn't survive the fighting so I had the only been given the only available combat capable translator, Barriss Offee.

After finishing preparing the troops I headed back to my quarters to get myself ready, I had my armour on but my Spartan Saber and some of my other equipment was there. While I was getting ready my mind wandered back to the conversation I had with Rex just moments ago. Rex had asked to be allowed onto the mission, wanting to be a part of the group that finished this fight once and for all. Normally I would have said no but he practically begged me to let him join. _I need to see this through to the end_ , I couldn't deny him that.

'I'm getting soft.' Cortana, who had just entered the room, pushed me onto my bed and straddled my hips.

'I don't know about that.' Now she had started to take off my helmet.

'Proper military procedure wouldn't allow a clearly unstable soldier back onto the battlefield until they had been cleared for duty.' With my helmet off Cortana just placed her hands on my shoulders and stared into my eyes.

'So why did you?' I gave my head a shake.

'I've gotten soft.' A little snort of laughter erupted from her while a fond, exasperated smile grew on her face. It was a look I had seen many a time.

'You know that isn't true. The only reason you're saying that is because your worried about Rex and you're trying to convince yourself to stop him from going.'

'If I'm so worried why did I let him go in the first place?' Sometimes I need Cortana just to make sense of what was going on in my own head.

'Because you know how much this means to him. Because, as both a Spartan and a person, you care about the well being of all those under your command and you believe, from the bottom of your heart, that this is what's best for your friend. Now, you need to get out there and finish this thing. And don't have too much fun.'

'I am going to finish off a rebellion and kill hundreds or thousands of Geonosians, I wouldn't call that fun.' Cortana just gave me a kiss on the lips and said,

'I meant with Barriss.' I didn't understand.

'How…' She cut me off by putting my helmet back on.

'Maybe one day I'll tell you.' She jumped out of my lap, allowing me to stand up.

'Some days I wish you would.' She just gave me her most innocent smile, something I had learned a long time ago was anything but.

'Don't do anything I wouldn't do.'

'That doesn't exactly limit my options.'

'Exactly.' She was impossible. With that we both left the room, with me heading to meet the rest of the troops at the airfield and Cortana returning to whatever it was she had actually been since we started, to be honest I wasn't even sure why she was planetside. I would have to ask her later.

* * *

John POV

As my Gunship landed in front of the Temple Commander Gree had come out to greet me and inform me on any developments but it seemed to be all quiet since the Geonosian had delivered the message. After being updated I asked to see the prisoner.

The troopers had tied its wings to its back and then handcuffed its hands to one of the columns that littered the Temple hall. After reaching it I broke its handcuffs and tore off its bindings, leaving it with a message, _tell Poggle we have arrived_. With that done it took off back into the tunnels.

'Why did you do that?' I turned to Commander Offee.

'Poggle brought us here looking for a fight, to prove he and his men are superior. If he knows we're here and that we only brought the 501st then he will be less likely to use ambushes, because he can only prove himself our better by beating us in a fair fight.' Hopefully this will limit our casualties.

Back at our base I had the troops break off into teams of 6, two men from Torrent, Storm and Bull or as close to that as we could, some teams were a bit unbalanced. We had chosen this because scans of the Hive, done using some of our deep planetary scanners, had found that this Hive had more than 500 junctions and turns. By dividing into teams of 6 we could evenly spread our forces and make sure that all junctions had been cleared. Every time we reached a junction the lead team will mark the tunnel they had just emerged from and the one they are about to enter, to identify which tunnels had been searched. To determine which team takes which junctions Cortana had suggested a more free flowing plan. Her suggestion was that every time we had hit a new set of junctions the teams were to enter down the ones that were unmarked, if multiple tunnels were unmarked then the first team takes the unmarked tunnel closest to the left, the next team takes the next tunnel along until all tunnels had been searched. The rest of the teams enter each of the remaining tunnels, moving from one tunnel to the next one before repeating the process, until all teams had an assigned tunnel. This process was to be repeated at each junction.

Due to the wide spread, and slightly uncoordinated, nature of this search method sometimes teams could come across a set of junctions that had already been searched, in which case they were to consult their maps for directions to the lowest part of the Hive to regroup at the Queens Chambers. Once we had finished I would contact all troops to evacuate, but we also had to accounted for loss of contact. This was done by setting ourselves a time limit of 2 hours. If you reached that time limit with no communication from myself or a senior officer you were to evacuate the tunnels. If you did make contact you were to stay in range so you didn't miss your evac orders.

With our preparations set, and the Geonosian having had enough time to inform Poggle, we all synced our Chrono's and began our assault.

Things had been starting off great, no ambushes, droids or even any significant Geonosian presence. Though I had learned a long time ago that was just the start of when things started to go wrong. In this case it was when a group of decaying Geonosians attacked. It was a relatively small group but no matter where they were shot they just kept coming. Some quick action from the flame troopers, and some punches strong enough to detach their heads from their bodies courtesy of myself, and the Geonosians had been defeated. I stopped to check on the bugs.

The corpse was decaying, like it had been dead for months, even years, it was also riddled with plasma burns and blaster holes, we certainly hadn't done all of this. The final clue came from their apparel. These Geonosian rebels were wearing the Geonosian worker apparel to better blend in but these ones were wearing the soldier uniform. No one had reported a Geonosian wearing this since the First Battle. All evidence pointed to this being a soldier killed during the First Battle and later reanimated. When Poggle said Underworld we had assumed he meant the world were the Geonosians live, the World Under the Ground, but he meant a literal Army of the Underworld, an army of undead. I commed all the troopers within range, they would pass the message to any outside of my range and so on, no group should be so isolated that no one could contact them, at least not yet.

'All troops be advised. Geonosians have reanimated the dead. These troops are extremely durable, use flamethrowers or concentrated fire on their heads. Also be advised, there could be reanimated troopers, either from Green Battalion or the First Battle, remember your orders, shoot these troopers on sight.' With that said we continued down into the Pit of the Underworld. Poggle was looking for a clash of armies fit for Myths and Legends, Hell versus the Underworld, Demons and Imps versus the Undead, it was time to show Poggle why people feared Hell more.

After the initial engagement with these Undead their presence had spiked significantly. It had gotten to a point where we could have release a constant stream of fire down the corridors and still take down multiple of these Undead. Getting sick of these repetitive engagements I activated both blades of the Spartan Saber and rushed them. I was moving through them so fast I barely had time to take in any of the details, only sure I was moving in the right direction and that I was aiming for the necks. After bursting through the back of their lines I turned and made my way back up, slowing down to ensure I could see all that I was doing. Upon killing the last of them I brought the teams to the next set of junctions, where we split up again. For all of Poggles confidence, now that we knew how to deal with them, it wasn't a particularly difficult task, killing the Undead, just a tedious one.

Soon, I had arrived at the entrance to what scans indicated was the Queens chambers. Teams had been advised to not engage so I saw a line of troopers on either side of the entrance, all guns aimed at the tunnel but none making any moves to enter. As I moved up to the tunnel entrance I noticed Hevy on one side with Rex on the other.

'What's the situation?' Hevy spoke up, saying most teams were accounted for, either dead and their bodies burned or alive and combat ready, though some were missing. He then mentioned no one had entered the tunnel but Poggle had been shouting his _clicks and clacks_ down to the troopers occasionally. Not Hevy's most descriptive moment but I got the idea.

'I am aware of your presence Demon. Come forth or the Jedi dies, your choice.' I turned to Commander Offee, who had just translated Poggles latest message, before I turned to Rex.

'Remember, never underestimate Hell.' He looked a little confused but he would understand what he needed to do and when. With that done I turned to Commander Offee and signalled her to enter the tunnel with me.

The first thing I noticed was Poggle with a blaster to General Unduli's head. The next was what I sure Hevy would describe a _big, fuck off bug_. It was the largest Queen I had seen by far. As I noticed some of the Undead planting eggs, what could only be Queen Eggs to replace all the lost Hives, Poggle started to click at me.

'You are not so impressive alone. You now stand before the God Queen Hades, ruler of the Underworld and your defeat is at hand.' A God Queen huh. I believed in only 3 Gods and none of them were this pathetic. And I told Poggle as such, his outraged screech had been more than worth it.

'Now hand over the General. My troops have proven to be your betters, release the General and surrender as agreed.' What could only be described as a Geonosian laugh erupted from Poggle.

'You have not won yet.' With that several Undead Geonosians entered the Chamber from tunnels leading to some of the upper levels. We had encountered many troopers from Green Battalion so it wasn't too surprising to see these Undead bring some troopers with them. The difference was these troopers were from the 501st.

'You are alone, surrounded, and unable to kill these troopers, who are very much alive, lest you kill your own men. It is I who has won.' He was underestimating me and my men. Those troopers that had been infected were, for the duration of this mission, to be considered hostile, with orders to execute on sight. And if he thought he had been beaten with this small number of troops he was wrong. After all,

'You've forgotten one thing, don't underestimate Hell.' Hearing the shuffling at the tunnel entrance I knew Rex had understood my message, and it seems Poggle understood it too. Not fast enough though, as a blue blaster bolt whizzed past my ear and landed square between Poggles eyes.

The Geonosians and infected troopers burst into a frenzy while the 501st troopers entered the Chamber with maintained discipline, quickly taking care of the enemy, even the infected 501st. I moved to crush the Queen Eggs while Commander Offee moved to free General Unduli from her handcuffs. The Queen was letting out a terrible screech which had been responded to with a shout _Oh shut the Hell up_ from one of the troopers, most likely from Hevy, followed by a set of blaster bolts that hit the Queen in the face, though they didn't seem to do anything.

After destroying the Eggs I turned to see Captain Rex pushing Commander Offee out of the way of General Unduli's lightsaber, losing his arm in the process, his right luckily. I rushed to save Rex from Unduli's follow up strike. I thrust her blade into the air and slammed her face with the hilt of my Saber. Drawing back my Saber to my hip, and changing it into Spartan Saber variant, I thrust it at Unduli, who had raised hers in response. Unduli's single blade slide down the two prongs, catching at the lip, leaving the points dangerously close to her chest. Instead of adding my left hand to the hilt, to give more force to my thrust, I instead gave Unduli an uppercut to the stomach, causing her to lose the strength necessary to hold me off. My Saber blistered forward but she had spun to the side, scraping her saber out of it's deadlock.

I swung my arm out in a sweeping strike which was blocked. I followed up with an arcing strike, from hip to shoulder, which Unduli dodged. I followed with a sweeping strike to her head, again smashing through her defence. Another arcing strike from the opposite shoulder to the opposite hip was again dodged but, with her back to the wall, Unduli couldn't block or dodge the follow up uppercut strike that pierced her body and impaled her on my Saber.

As I withdrew my Saber Unduli sank to her knees and, before hitting the dirt, dropped into her Padawans arms.

'Master.'

'Barriss. It is time to let me go. Do this and become the Knight you were meant to be long ago. You have been the perfect Padawan I could have asked for' With that she died, in the arm of her student. The Commander just pressed their foreheads together and whispered her goodbye in a traditional Mirialan farewell. I moved to Rex to see how he was.

'I'm fine sir, just needed a hand.' I shook my head at the terrible pun and helped him back to his feet.

'How are you really?'

'I'm fine sir. It helped a lot, thank you.' I waved him off, he helped himself, not me. It had become something Cortana would describe as a touching moment, for both myself, Rex and the Commander, but it had been under cut by the screeching of the Geonosian Queen. I ordered Hevy to rig the Chambers to blow and went to get the Commander, who insisted on carrying her Master's body.

After we returned to the surface we met back up with the troopers who had gotten separated and so headed out of the tunnels. They were wait with what small number remained from Green Battalion. The troopers of Green Battalion, upon seeing the fate of their General, all came to say their farewells to Luminara Unduli in person, with Gree being the first.

After waiting 20 minutes, to ensure Hevy's bomb went off, we all evaced back to base where we reported our success, and our failure.

After explaining how Poggle had used the negotiations as an ambush for myself and Commander Offee, and how I had to fight off an infected General Unduli, the Jedi went to make preparations for the return of Unduli's body to the Jedi temple on Coruscant after it had been scanned for any eggs or other parasites.

While they were doing that I had to make my report to the Chancellor. It had gone as well as expected, he had been noticeable upset with our losses but had understood that these things happen, that sometimes things don't go as well as predicted. Once he had heard my thoughts on the reason for our lack of success he had grew more contemplative.

'And if you had more advanced equipment?'

'Depending on how advanced, and any new features or applications, I am sure I could have reduced losses by over half.' The Chancellor just gave a few nods, like he was distracted by his thoughts rather than acknowledging me and my assessment.

'Would you like some?'

'Sir?'

'Since Ryloth, small groups of ARC and ODST troopers have been testing out new equipment, armour and weapons, while a select few tank crews and pilots have been testing out some new vehicles and fighters. All reports have been overwhelmingly positive, but I am in need of a larger test. I need to see how much of a difference they make to a full Legion. Would you like to nominate the 501st?' I agreed and the Chancellor informed me that the 501st would head back to Coruscant to resupply our stocks and our men. We were then to spend the next month or so learning how to operate these new machines. They had been designed for ease of use and to require as little change from the existing training the clones had already received. This meant it was possible we could finish training before the month was up and be back in the field in no time.

With our new orders received I ended my briefing with the Chancellor and started my briefing with Halsey. She had seemed especially pleased to hear the 501st had been selected to test the new equipment, it turns out she had a hand in modifying the AT-TE's and was more than a little smug about it, promising I would enjoy it very much, for both its power and versatility.

With that done I headed to my quarters and stripped out of my armour, with help from the SARM, the Spartan Armour Removal Machine. Once done I changed into a t-shirt and some shorts before dropping to into my bed.

'So, what's up next?' Cortana had just entered the room.

'We are heading to Coruscant where the 501st will be outfit with the latest equipment for battlefield testing.' Her only response was to straddle my hips and stare into my eyes, her devious smirk in full bloom. 'Why are you here?

'What's that supposed to mean?' She didn't look offended but she had placed her hands on either side of my head, ready to enact justice if she didn't like my answer.

'Why are you on Geonosis? You are the Xiphos' Main Pilot, not an Infantryman, why are you planetside.'

'You promised me some action, and I didn't get any above the planet, so I came to get some on it.' So why didn't she fight in any of the battles? Before I could ask Cortana's left hand moved from the side of my head to my chest, before snaking its way down and into my shorts.

Okay. I think I get it now.

It's safe to say I didn't get much sleep that night, not even after Cortana had finished. She had gotten me too worked up to sleep, adrenaline and testosterone was surging around my body in amounts that far exceeded normal males during procreation, due to my augments. These higher levels had me so worked up I couldn't sleep, even with Cortana so exhausted she had passed out next to me, though not before she had whisper that next time she would need some help. The thing was, I thought I was helping her. Perhaps this was one of those times I didn't quite get what Cortana meant, I would ask tomorrow. Right now I needed to head to the gym, to try and get these hormones out of my system.


	29. Chapter 29

Ahsoka POV

After Geonosis I was in desperate need of a break, not only was the fighting intense but the amount of work I had to do as a member of the Quarantine Team, we had a theme song and everything, was exhausting. The sheer amount of work was bad enough but having to cover for Barriss was torture, not that I could blame her for not helping after what happened. Being able to get some rest at the Jedi Temple must have been a gift from the Force as an apology for being such a demanding bitch recently, I probably shouldn't call the Force a bitch though, I don't want it to turn on me.

Speaking of Barriss, she had handled the death of her Master better than expected. She had handled it so well even the Council had been impressed. So impressed they reviewed her trail history to see if she had met the requirements to become a Knight, spoiler alert, she passed. As a Jedi Knight Barriss was allowed to take command of her own Legion and become a General, which was total unfair, she was only 2 years older than me for Force sake, but, Barriss had surprised everyone again by declining. The original plan was for her to take over command of the 41st Legion but Barriss had shown a greater amount of humility then most and informed the Council she was not yet ready for such a large responsibility, first needing to get used to the responsibilities of being a Knight. Instead of taking the role of a General she had instead requested a transfer to a Legion that had been missing a Commander for a while now, the 501st Legion.

Again, she had surprised everyone by requesting a transfer to the same Legion that was commanded by the person who killed her Master. When asked _why_ Barriss said that, while she didn't blame the Master Chief for what happened, that it was the right choice in the circumstances, she did wish to evaluate him herself, rather than relying on the stories about him that had circulate throughout the entire army. She had also brought up the fact that the Council had been looking for a Jedi liaison between the Spartans and the Jedi and the fact that, because the Master Chief had passed the time limit given to him to appoint a new Commander, the Military High Council could assign one to him. After being out maneuvered by a 15 year old girl the Council quickly assigned Barriss to the 501st. Hearing about what happened from Master Kenobi brought as much of a chuckle to me as the situation had apparently brought to Master Yoda, who Master Kenobi noted seemed to take great pleasure in seeing the Council being given the runaround.

Seeing Master Kenobi up ahead I ran to catch up with him.

'Master, do we have another mission?' He seemed to be geared up and wearing his armour, something that had been missing since our return to the Temple.

'We do. Master Eeth Koth has been kidnapped by Grievous and we have been dispatched to rescue him.' I am sorry, all powerful Force, for calling you a bitch. I beg of you, as your humble servant, don't make me go.

'Currently we have 3 fleets with 2 Jedi High Council members and Anakin assigned to the mission so I doubt there will be much you have to do. You can stay behind and continue your studies with Master Bnar if you wish, he has said you have been making great progress. You can even meet up with some of your friend if you want, I hear Riyo Chuchi is currently at the Senate. Rex and Barriss are also planetside with the rest of the 501st, if you want to meet with either of them.' Thank you, oh powerful Force, for this great gift you have bestowed onto me. Quickly accepting my Masters offer, I ran off to meet Master Bnar in the Library.

While Master Kenobi was teaching me what it meant to be a Jedi, our ways and responsibilities, Master Bnar was teaching me different Force Techniques and Abilities, like Battle Meditation. I had told him I wanted more combat oriented techniques so, Master Bnar had picked 4 techniques for me to learn.

The first was Battle Meditation and I had gotten good enough to influence a whole squad in less than a second, with enough time and focus I was sure I could influence an entire battle, but this had yet to be tested.

The second technique was another obscure one called Ionize, a very useful one for the Clone Wars as, it was meant to disable droids by turning them off internally.

The next was a morally grey technique but one employed by Jedi Masters, such as Eeth Koth. This technique was known as Crucitorn and it was meant to agitate a person's wound to increase the amount of pain they feel. It could, alternatively, be used to stimulate the brain to increase or lower the amount of pain a person feels, without effect the wound itself.

The final technique wasn't just morally grey but was grey in terms of the Force as well. It was called Force Wound. It was a technique that skirted close to the Dark Side and I was only to practice it under the guidance of Master Bnar and I needed to get the Council's approval before I even started to learn it. It was a technique designed to use the Force to _grip_ a person's organs and damage them by tightening that grip, if not careful it could crush them. To gain the Council's approval I had to state my reasons for wanting to learn such a technique.

I had been on many battlefields and faced many opponents so I could say, with absolute certainty, that the most difficult opponents were those with more defence than offense, such as Droidekas and tanks. I had also found myself in many a situation where a lot of troops had been lost trying to take out such threats. Force Wound would allow me to stop a Droideka without having to even face it, to stop a tank by removing its driver before I even had to send a trooper to deal with it. Force Wound would allow me to save countless of my men's lives. And so I had been given approval, but I could only practice with Master Bnar and was to only use it on non-organics.

Thanks to Master Bnar I had reached a level of Battle Meditation where I could use it in battle, I had enough control over Ionize to disable a Battle Droid and I could reach behind the shields of a Droideka to reach inside of it, even if I did take took long for it to be feasible during a firefight. My only real problem came from Crucitorn, but I suspected that was from a lack of real practice as I wasn't allowed to practice on anyone other than Master Bnar who, as a Neti, doesn't feel pain the way other organic life does. All in all I had been progressing much faster under Master Kenobi than Skywalker.

Learning these Force Techniques, along with my standard Jedi Training and my Mandalorian Training, left me with little time to work on my saber skills, which had been sidelined to deflecting blaster bolts while I used my pistol to shoot droids, or to cut up droid that got too close. I was sort of missing having a good old fashioned spar and was looking to improve my saber techniques.

After about an hour with Master Bnar another Padawan had some to join us.

'Ah, Serra, it is good to see you again. Have you come back for another story?' The distraction had resulted in me losing concentration and crushing the vase that Master Bnar had place behind the mini shield generator to help me practice Force Wound.

'It seems you may require more practice Padawan Tano. Perhaps a break to recentre yourself will help. Come, join us. Young Serra here has been coming to listen to stories about the great Bastila and Satele Shan. She grew ever so curious after I noted a more than vague similarity between her and Bastila and has been coming to listen to my stories ever since.'

'Master.' She looked more annoyed then embarrassed but Master Bnar took great pleasure in it all the same.

It turns out that both Bastila and Statele were Masters of Battle Meditation and had employed it to great effect in both the Mandalorian Civil War and the multiple Galactic Civil Wars. It was a nice thing to have a new perspective to work from.

After Master Bnar regaled us with his stories he had suggested a spar between us. I had expressed interest in furthering my bladework to Master Bnar before we started today's lesson but he confessed to having less than stellar skills with a lightsaber, knowing all parts of the first 6 Forms but not having any true skill with them.

Serra Keto was the Padawan to Cin Drallig, one of the finest Blade Masters of the Order and the one responsible for teaching the younglings, I even remember my own lessons with him. Master Bnar mentioned Serra had been looking for a sparring partner and I could learn more about lightsaber combat from her. I agreed and quickly got my ass handed to me. She was a bit older than myself but Master Yoda himself had praised my bladework before I was assigned to Skywalker, so it stung to have lost so readily.

It was hours before we stopped and even then it was only because I had accidentally had a breakthrough in Cruciton. Good news was I finally knew how to do it. Bad news was Serra had a splitting headache because of it and the painful stinging sensation of a training saber cutting through her arm. Whoops.

After extracting a promise from me to train again sometime Serra had been taken to rest by her Master, who had suggested that I augment my bladework with some of my Force Abilities as they seemed to make an effective combo. Watching Serra, the more skilled duelist by far, being taken away by her Master for some rest did put some weight behind the idea. In fact, it was an excellent idea. Despite how it came about Master Bnar, who had been supervising our spar and was the one to contact Master Drallig, congratulated me on my break through. Now I just had to get more control over it and the rest of my Techniques. but he assured me that came in time. With the day almost over I decided it was time for me to rest too. I wonder how everyone else was getting along.

* * *

Barriss POV

It was a little off putting, I admit, to stand before the one who killed my Master but she had always emphasised being ready to make the ultimate sacrifice if it was required and to let go of our feelings of attachments lest they control us. I understood the difficult task placed before the Master Chief and I know Master Kenobi had placed his men in greater danger than they had to, just for the chance to save Master Luminara. so I could feel no resentment to the Master Chief over what had happened.

That said, he intrigued me, all the Spartans did. Jedi were trained to be peacekeepers from a young age while all reports said that similar was true for the Spartans, except they had been trained for war. It would be interesting to see what the difference was.

After meeting with the Master Chief he escorted me to a private facility that had been created in The Works, a desolate industrial area just outside of the Federal district that housed the Jedi and the Senate. The Works was used as a landing zone for any troops coming to and from Coruscant so it wasn't unusual to see clones moving around the area. It was also so desolate most saw no further use for it except as a landing grounds or a den of thieves for the local underground. In short, the perfect place for a top secret training centre.

'I will remind you that you are not allowed to discuss anything about this facility or what's inside it with anyone, not even the Jedi or Military High Council, without first getting approval from the Chancellor, Director Halsey or Doctor Boll, the head of Section 3.' I understood. If anything got out before it could be fully implemented in the field then the Separatist would have a major advantage when it was finally introduced.

The first thing the Master Chief took me to was a shooting range with various droids lined up at the ends of the ranges.

'The M2-Series Rifles, not much different from the originals but they have more power and greater stability, allowing for greater accuracy. The new features are that they now sync up with a troopers helmets. The Helmets have now been redesigned with a greater Mandalorian influence that has resulted in an internal heads up display, that will be explained later. The M2-series rifles have a transponder in the grip that will relay information, ammo capacity, weapon durability and an aim assist that syncs with the weapons sights to provide greater accuracy even when firing from the hip or not aiming down the sight.

'The M2-series will be restricted to Spec Ops use while some modifies M-series, with similar transponder chips in the grips, will be given to the Regs.' Well, it made a troopers job easier and the clones seemed to enjoy them, if the shredded droids were any indication. Next we moved to a room that had a thick sheet of duraglass separating us from a trooper with a rocket launcher. He fired at an AAT on the other end of the firing range and blew the tank to smithereens.

'Nothing major with the Rocket Launchers, rockets are more powerful, or the Spartan Lasers, greater ammo capacity, but both are now equipped with transponders.' Then we moved to the armour.

The best description was that it was a slimmed down clone trooper armour with external rebreathers and a t-shaped visor, more in keeping with traditional Mandalorian design, except that the part of the visor covering the eye was far wider, coming from around brow level to halfway down the nose.

'This is Reg armour, for non-Spec Ops troopers. It has the same features, just a different design and armour thickness, though Spec Ops armour does have a few more additions in places. The Helmet uses cameras to send visuals to the screen on the inside of the helm, like a traditional Mandalorian helmet would, with sensors to indicate when to dim or brighten the screen to help troopers out in the field, either to allow clearer view in darker environments or to reduce the flash from flashbangs or explosions. Sensors will also switch to night vision if suitably dark. Troopers can also manually turn on and off an infrared mode.

'All HUDs have minor zoom functions but, this too, is manual. HUDs also display all information received from the transponders inside of the troopers weapons around the screen.'

We then moved onto the different Spec Ops armour. Chief explained that Spec Ops troopers originally wore regular clone armour to hide their presence on the battlefield and were identified via certain armour markings, the ONI diamond for Operatives, the stylised, flaming skull for ODST's or the Commando troopers Kyr'bes, the traditional Mandalorian symbol of a Mythosaur skull. With the our trick to hide Spec Ops troopers widely know it was time for them to get their own armour that was designed specifically for them.

Commando troopers had a bulky plate armour designed to absorb lots of damage and to quickly inject Bacta shots into troopers. It had a large backpack and was called the Katarn Armour, named after the bulky beasts native to Kashyyyk that were known to be able to take a lot of damage. Along with thicker plates it also had a deflector shield, wrist blades and greater storage capacity for ammo and other supplies.

The ARC trooper armour was very similar to the regular Phase 2 armour but had noticeable differences, especially around the eyes, which were far more narrow. It looked a lot like the Reg armour the Chief showed me before, this was done because ARC troopers wanted a more unified army that fit with Jango Fetts vision for the clones. The Kaminoans decided not to upset them and designed their armour to match as much as possible with the rest of the regular troopers while adding additional features to help in the field. It had a blast dampening Kama which was attached to a belt with a larger capacity for supplies. It was lighter than Regular Phase 2 armour but only had a slightly reduced protection. It had even been coated in a special coating that helped reduce detection from droids and acted as a basic camouflage from long distances but could still be spotted if seen by a real person, by standing directly in front of a droid or if the droid had special sensors. It had been named the Ysalamiri armour due to it's unique hiding abilities from sensors but not from eyesight.

Next was the Galactic Marines. While not a Spec Ops division the Chancellor had request special armour for them. They had been given blast coats, basically a full body Kama, with a front veil designed to keep out harmful material. It was more armoured than Regular armour but not to the extent of the Katarn armour. It was named the Rancor armour due to it's higher plate defence and its environmental protection against extreme weather, like a Rancor.

The ODST armour was a significant deviation from all the others. It was the only armour not coloured white but black. The Chief explained it was due to the armour being a sort of pseudo stealth/combat armour, designed to protect the user both in combat and out of it by stopping enemy fire or by hiding the trooper. It's visor was the widest so far, covering most of the face. This was in part to make a disconnect between the ODST's and the rest of the clone army incase they needed to operate behind enemy lines. By not being quickly identified as a clone or a Mandalorian they could slip past a quick look from pursuers. It also had more sensor equipment then all other troopers with the inclusion of motion trackers, communication hijackers and squad trackers. It was also coated in the same camo coating as the Ysalamiri armour. The plates weren't as thick as Katarn armour but were thicker than the Ysalamiri armour to make it more suitable for its more maneuverable approach to combat.

The armour itself had multiple additions to make maneuvering around the battlefield easier. It had mobility thrusters and jump jets to allow troopers to quickly move from building to building. The Chief had even shown me footage of a particularly inventive trooper using them to help wall run. To climb obstacles they had a whipcord launcher on one wrist while a flamethrower was attached to the other, to help in close quarters. This heightened maneuverability, along with its ability to be used for both combat and stealth, gave it the name Vornskr armour.

Last up was the Immortals armour. While it did possess the same t-shaped visor it looked nothing like the rest of the clones armour. The helmet looked closer to that of a partially decayed skull with the visor in place of eye sockets. The armour itself looked more like a primitive plate armour, rather than the seamless plates of the modern age, with overlapping sections of armour painted to look far too much like dried blood for comfort. It had pointy protrusions all over and it looked like it had skin dripping from it in patches. The armour itself was about as heavily armoured as the Rancor armour but also had a shield generator. The partly digested look, along with the spikes, gave it the name of Sarlacc armour.

With the armour done we moved onto the new tanks. The original AT-TE's held a crew of six but Section 3 had managed to reduce that to four and moved the other 2 crew members into a separate light tank. The new AT-TE was basically the same in design except it now had no front cockpit, relying on cameras and sensors and even the top gunner, if it got down to it. It was also noticeably smaller than the original. The cannon on the top still required a separate gunner but had been designed so he was no longer exposed or had to get out of the tank to man the gun. For a demonstration, one of the new AT-TE tanks was up against one of the Geonosian super tanks. With a single shot the super tank had been pierced right through both sets of plating, with the shot hitting the wall behind the tank. The reason was because of its redesigned top cannon.

Director Halsey had personally helped to design the cannon by scaling up and improving the technology inside of the Spartan Lasers. It was basically a super laser that burned through nearly anything so long as it had enough power but the real surprise was yet to come.

I watched as the tank sank to the floor and its four outer legs locked the body to the ground and the two inner legs extended and did the same. The cannon then folded outwards and split. The tank then took aim at a second group of super tanks, 3 in a line, that were sitting at the other end of the facility over a kilometer away. Another shot, this one louder and longer than the last, burst through all three tanks, which promptly exploded, and smashed into the wall behind them. It turns out ONI had taken notice of how commanders used the AT-TE as a sort of mobile artillery and so had designed the new one with that in mind. The tanks could move into position then hunker down, increasing defence, power and range. It had been given the nickname of Cobra by the clones because it moved just like its brethren, the original AT-TA, before hunkering down, extending its head crest and striking with a surprising amount of force. The only downside was it was an anti-vehicle tank and so was lacking in anti-infantry cannons, only having 2 rather than the originals 4.

To compensate, the remaining two crew members were moved into the TX-130 Fighter Tank. It was an anti-infantry tank but could take on light vehicles at a push. The clones had nicknamed it the Saber Tank after the two pronged designed which reminded them of the Spartan Saber. It had twin plasma cannons along with concussion missiles. The turret on top was similar to a Spartan Laser but produced a blue beam instead of a red one and the length of the beam was extended.

Next up was the fighters, while the bombers weren't being replaced, and two squadrons Z-95's were being added, the only new addition was a heavy strike fighter. This fighter was equipped with twin rotary plasma cannons located under each wing, along with an accompanying missile pod. It had rechargeable energy shielding and a central undercarriage pod for proton torpedoes. The called it the Broadsword.

With the tour over I had been dismissed and was to return tomorrow to help train the troops in their new weapons, and to learn some new tactics on how to use them myself.

* * *

John POV

Nearly 3 weeks of training and I was already confident in the mens ability to use these new weapons. And apparently so was the Chancellor.

'They have progressed well. You and your men are a credit to the Republic.'

'Thank you sir.' Even though he had received various updates on the state of our training the Chancellor had yet to visit in person so I was slightly sceptical of why he was here.

'How soon until they are combat ready?' I had mentioned it in my latest report but told him anyway.

'A few days at most sir.'

'Good, very good. We may have need of them soon.' I didn't say anything. 'If, for example, you were sent to Geonosis again how would your men respond?' Curious.

'They would do their duty sir. Why?'

'They may need to yet. After the death of Poggle and this Hades character I had hoped we would hear the end of this Geonosian business, but it seems they are growing more rebellious by the day. Rumors are even coming in of Separatist assistance. I would like to hear how you would handle the situation if given command of a Third Geonosian campaign. You are the most experienced commander with the most experienced troops on the matter.' I see.

'I would use one of the Executive Orders.' Before I could continue the Chancellor cut me off.

'You know of the Executive Orders?'

'Yes sir. Dr. Halsey felt it best that the Spartans know what our future orders may be, even if we didn't have the authority to activate them.' I grew solemn at that.

'I see. And if given one of those orders, would you follow it?' He was casting a wary eye at Commander Offee. I got the message.

'Yes sir.'

'I apologise. You were saying?' I continued.

'Geonosis has proven too costly to hold and we are gaining nothing from it even if it wasn't. The Separatist, however, stand to gain much. If I had the authority to do it I would active Order Base Delta Zero.' The Chancellor didn't give any reaction other than to start rubbing his chin, a tame response to my admission of being willing to wipe out all life on the planet. Base Delta Zero was a last resort order for precisely these situations, where a local populace was more trouble to rule than any benefits gained from either the planet or the people. The order was for a fleet to begin intense orbital bombardment until all important buildings are destroyed, local resources decimated and the local populace exterminated. I wouldn't hesitate to use it on the Geonosians and I know the men felt the same. It wouldn't even be the worst thing a Mandalorian had ever done.

'There have been rumors floating around, rumors that have even reached my ears. Apparently the Spartans have earned the title of Demon, while the clones have been crowned as Imps. Separatist propaganda to be sure, but I wonder if there is more to the titles they have given to you and the 501st. They call you High Demon, or sometimes Devil, while the troopers are called the Blue Eyed Imps, Eyes of Blue has even become Separatist slang for something terrifying on some of the more backwater planets, if reports are to be believed. They have even named the 501st the Hellish Legion. Most of this can be brushed off as nonsense, unless you execute Order Base Delta Zero. If you do this you will become the most feared soldiers in the galaxy, a truly Hellish Legion. Your name will no longer just inspire hope in our troops, but also fear in theirs. You will become more than just a man, but a symbol. A symbol of Republic might and of fear. You will be the Fist of the Republic and sent to do the things no one else will. You must bring Hell everywhere you walk, do you understand?' We would be the symbol of fear and strength across the galaxy, a target greater than any other to the Separatists, hunted until the end of the war. If we do this then we must never be defeated. If we lose the entire Republic army will lose moral and the Separatists will take advantage of this and crush us all. We could never show weakness.

'Yes sir. I understand.'

'Then you are authorised to execute Order Base Delta Zero. You can no longer show compassion, no longer show mercy, you must be brutal and swift. Just remember to exercise restraint as well. You must have the full authority to do whatever is necessary so you are now my right hand, and report directly to myself and Dr. Halsey. You do not answer to the Jedi or the Military High Command, in fact they now answer to you if you should need them. This also means you have full authorisation to use any and all Executive Orders as you see fit and are allowed full use of the Broadswords Havoc Missiles. Speaking of such, does Commander Offee know of them?'

'No sir. She has been informed they are proton torpedo launchers.'

'Keep it that way. If you should need to use them you may explain but until then keep it secret, keep it safe. The Republic rests on your shoulder now Master Chief, let us hope you are strong enough to carry it. Ready your men and head to Geonosis as soon as possible. Dismissed.'

* * *

Palpatine POV

As I watched the 501st Fleet leave the planet I took a moment to bask in my triumph. Anakin had become withdrawn in his lessons, losing his focus, not putting any effort into them. I had planned for him to become my galactic enforcer, my iron fist, but that looked to become less of a viable option then it once had, so I had looked for an alternative.

I knew the Master Chief had been ready to do whatever he felt was necessary to achieve victory and now he had the authority to do just that. The real work of genius was that I had made sure to enforce the fact that he could no longer show mercy, he had to obliterate his foes with no quarter given. All reports indicate the Master Chief will only go as far as needed but I needed him to go further, to really drive fear into the hearts of the populace. Now that I had told him the Republic needed him to go further than he had before he would, believing it to be what was necessary. He would become a true Devil. If I told him he needed to wipe out entire species, crush rebellions or even nuke planets if I, uhuh, if the _Republic_ needed him too then he would, hopefully. There is only so far you can push someone till they break. I would need to take it slow, so that instead of breaking he bends, bends to my will.

Anakin had grown soft so I would harden his rival into the hammer needed to maintain my Galactic Empire. The fact that it would help draw in Halsey was just a bonus. The problem would be if he and his legion ever lost and what that would mean for the Republic. But, I had complete control over both sides of the war so that wasn't really a problem. I gave him full control to see the full extent of his capabilities, I will only step in if necessary, let's see how good he really is. I can't wait for the show to begin.


	30. Chapter 30

John POV

I stood on the bridge, watching as the sands turned to crystal and the fires burned away all life from the planet below. I had used the local fleet to help speed up the process but it still took several hours. I had watching it from start to finish. I was the one who decided the one who decided on this course of action, the least I could do was to see it through.

'Kinda looks like glass doesn't it?' Rex had come to stand at my side about an hour ago but had said a word till now.

'It's a mineral called Lechatelierite. It's formed when high amounts of energy and heat hit sand in short bursts, but yes, it does look like glass.' A useless bit of information but I had been trying to be more open with people, those I was close to, and I'm trying to have longer conversations. Cortana said it was healthy to have more open interactions with people and I had no argument against it so it was worth trying.

'I can't say with any true sincerity that I feel sorry for doing this to the bugs, but will we have to do this again, in another time, another place? Because if we do, I don't know how I would feel about that.' To be honest, neither did I.

'This was a last resort for a world to costly to hold and to damaging to lose, there is nearly no other worlds that matches those requirements. Those that are would be worlds like Mustafar or Coruscant, worlds with little chance of it being needed. Geonosis is unique in that regard. Nut, this is just as much about making a statement as it is about stopping the Geonosians.'

'And what statement is that sir?'

'That this war isn't fought by Republic soldiers or clone trooper, it is fought by Mandalorians, by people willing to go as far as they must to defend their brothers. And as Mandalorians we will give no quarter to an enemy so vile they are willing to rip apart our brothers at a molecular level. If they refuse our offer of surrender we will give them no more chances.' We couldn't show any weakness in the face of a foe willing to go to such extremes and, if I must, I will become the Devil to do just that.

'For our brothers then.' We both became silent at that, saying nothing as we watched Geonosis turn to glass.

A few hours later, once the Order was finished, I moved to the holotable to contact the Chancellor and report the completion of our task, not our victory, having to resort to such tactics is a defeat in its own right.

'I see you have finished. Good. Now, let us put this nasty business behind us and move onto something else. I am sure you have heard about our attempted capture of Grievous above Saleucami. While the CIS fleet has been destroyed, and we have started our own take over of the planet, there has been a problem. It seems the success of the clone troopers has lead to the Separatists trying their own hand at it. Dr. Halsey has called these clones Morgukai, a subsect of the Nikto culture or some such. All I understand is that these Nikto clones are, much like the Mandalorians, one of the few people across the galaxy who have earned the title of Jedi Killer. I have been informed they have been made using Spartii cloning methods so will have limited training but, even so, they are causing too much trouble for our troops on Saleucami. I need you to head to the planet and help the 212th and Krayt forces on the planet in eliminating the droid and Nikto forces. We want this done fast, Saleucami is a very important world for both sides.' With our orders received my fleet started to head towards the Saleucami system. Just then a holocommunication from the Resolute came in from Admiral Yularen.

'I hear we have some new orders? Good. I never liked this ghastly business with the Geonosians anyway. I assume I won't be needed since the Separatist fleet was destroyed?'

'You will be taking command of the defensive fleet, Saleucami is a high value target so expect droid reinforcements, the battle has been going on for near 3 weeks now so they have had plenty of time to get a fleet together. Also be prepared for orbital bombardment on my command, we may need the extra firepower.' With his orders received Yularen ended the call.

I then sent a call to Commander Offee to inform her about our next mission. Commander Offee had established herself quickly as a more supportive commander, where as I favoured a more combative approach, during our three weeks of training. This was only further shown when Commander Offee had set herself up in Medical, offering her services and assistance. After being told of our mission to Geonosis she had sequestered herself in her duties as a medic, despite there being little to do at present, to get away from the bombardment. She may understood why we had to do this but she didn't have to like doing it, or wish to be a part of it.

With everything ready Cortana lead the fleet into hyperspace with Yularen close behind.

* * *

John POV

Our arrival had been quiet. After sending our authorisation codes to the fleet around Saleucami we headed down to the planet. We never came under fire, we heard no gunfire, no explosions, no marching, nothing. It was deadly silent.

As we passed over the city of kisreen, the headquarters for Republic forces, the streets looked dead. It wasn't just no one making sounds, but there was no one at all. As we passed over the walls of the compound and landed in the designated airfield there was no one came to greet us either. The guards were at their posts but that was it. Generals Kenobi and Skywalker were nowhere to be found and any trooper we saw not on duty were few and far between, even then they looked to be going to relieve someone who was on duty.

The feel from both battles on Geonosis was oppressive, heavy, it weighed down your soul. This just felt barren and empty. Like, despite the fact that there were people and buildings, this place was dead. Even executing Order Base Delta Zero didn't feel like this hollow. It was like the life had been drained out of everyone here.

I left Rex to get the men settled and headed to the command centre with Barriss. As I was walking I noticed men were going about their duties but didn't seem to put any thought or effort into it, like some sort of zombie. This didn't change even after reaching the command centre. A round of lacklustre greetings from the two Generals and from Commander Tano were given to Barriss and I upon our arrival. The three hadn't even looked up from staring at the holomap, that in itself wouldn't have been so strange if something was actually happening, but it was just a map of the capital, Taleucema.

It was over an hour of asking the trio question after question before I, painstakingly, managed to find out more on the situation here. Saleucami, even with a larger droid presence and these Morgukai, should never have taken this long to either take or lose. Apparently no fighting in over a week and a half. With the initial success of the campaign the Republic forces made great strides towards the capital, even if Grievous had escaped. It was after taking Sisceen that things had ground to a halt, and not even because we had pushed back. Instead we never pushed forward, and neither did the droids. Dismissing the three as a lost cause I head back to the men, leaving Barriss to deal with her fellow Jedi.

When I got to Rex the men were still offloading supplies but the other troopers were doing nothing to help. Normally different legions help out and pitch in, but they were just watching. It was just another reason to be weary, and I wasn't the only one to notice. Rex too was worried about what was happening, and just why everyone seemed so lethargic yet alert. It wasn't an unnatural state for a soldier but it was a mix reserved for those who had been in the field fighting for some time with little to no rest, the exhaustion makes them tired and sluggish while the adrenaline keeps them alert and focused. Things were becoming more worrisome by the minute.

I ordered Rex to inform the men to only use the rations we brought with us to start getting some of the engineers together to see if they could scrap together a couple of Moisture Vaporators for our water. I suspected that either the water or food had been tampered with, and that it had also affected the local populace too. The only flaw was that the Separatists seemed to be affected as well, why else would the droid commander not attack. Of course this assumption could be wrong, it could be a completely different reason for our troopers behaviour or the Separatists weren't affected bu whatever this was at all and weren't attacking as they had another goal in mind, basically there were plenty of alternative reasons for the situation but they seemed unlikely. Whatever happened, it didn't seem like it was done on purpose, otherwise why would the Separatists be affected to, perhaps a containment breach at a Separatist lab.

As Rex was moving off to inform the men, and get together the engineers, we heard a clattering behind the Speeder Garage. Rex and I both drew our pistols, the only weapons anyone not on guard duty were allowed to carry due to base regulations, though Rex had earned himself a pass on his SMG due to his accuracy, with a little help from his mechanical arm. We moved up to the side of the building and listened for anything else. There was a shuffling sound from heavy footsteps so Rex and I rounded the corner, weapons raised.

A blade tipped staff rushed towards my head, causing my hand to shoot up and grab it. I gave a half spin, yanking the staff to the side, throwing its wielder off balance, and slammed my elbow into the back of their head. I finished the spin, raised my Magnum and shot the Nikto in the back of the head. I looked at the spear in my hand and realised quickly it was made out of Cortosis ore, identifying the Nikto as a Morgukai.

Another rushed at me so I used the staff I had in hand to deflect it, then proceeded to stab them in the chest. My hand was right under the blade so I quickly moved it down to a more reasonable spear grip and pulled it out, finishing with a final thrust to their heads. While I was doing this Rex had finished two of his own in rapid succession, wit0h some well placed shots to the chest and head. The fighting hadn't been that long, Rex and I worked quickly, but it was long enough for the compound to light up in blaster fire. We raced back to the main court yard and found members of the 501st engaging with several Morgukai Warriors, with our troopers on guard duty dispassionately shooting at the Warriors as well. More than a few of those shots had been dangerously close to a 501st trooper though.

After the brief fight was over troopers from inside the barracks calmly walked out, with no sense of urgency, and proceeded to clean up the bodies.

'If I didn't find this whole thing creepy before, I sure do now.' I had to agree with Rex on that one.

This raid was too organised, too well executed, to have be a spur of the moment thing, it had to have been planned. So who planned it?

If it was the Separatist commander why were there no droids, why hadn't they just sent enough Nikto or droids to overwhelm us? There was a third party involved in all of this, and if the fact that they and these Morgukai didn't seem to be affected was any indication, then it is safe to say they were the ones who turned everyone into living zombies and where involved with the Nikto Clones in some way.

I immediately sent Rex to finish handing out the previous set of orders while also setting up 501st guard patrols, so something like this doesn't happen again, and to get me Hevy and his squad.

'Also, have him get Whip while he's out there.' You see, Hevy has a problem with Whip, and that problem is he is Whips favourite.

He wasn't Whips favourite friend, he wasn't Whips favourite Treat Giver and he wasn't Whips favourite Pack Mate. No, Hevy was Whips favourite target.

Many a time I have come across Hevy lying on his back with Whip sitting at my feet, panting up at me and looking very pleased with himself. This was such a common occurrence most just left it alone. Normally I would have done the same, or tried to keep the two from interacting a much as possible, but Hevy had made a mistake. He shot my dog.

During ]training last week, Whip had managed to sneak himself into one of the weapons training exercise that Hevy was leading his squad through. It was a breach and clear scenario and had been going well until, out of nowhere, Hevy fell. Vornskrs are very sneaky by nature, being pack hunters means stealth is important to getting food and general survival, so it wasn't a surprise we hadn't noticed Whip until after Hevy had fallen 3 times already. I had been watching the exercise and noticed Whip dart across a doorway into another room to hide from Hevy in. I had left it to see what would happen. By the end of the exercise the team, consisting of Hevy, Fives, Echo, Kix and Hardcase, had passed with a decent time, despite their little saboteur. Realising the scenario was over Whip emerged and came to gloat by plopping himself in front of Hevy with his smug panting face. Then Hevy shot him. While the team had only be using stun rounds, Hevy had just shot my dog.

I get Hevy was annoyed, and if it had been done during the exercise I would have accepted it, but it didn't. If Hevy had been genuinely frustrated and annoyed I would have even let off now, and used the whole thing as a lesson for Whip on choosing his targets better. But Hevy wasn't annoyed,no, he was smug. I wasn't upset, in fact the whole thing had been amusing, seeing someone supremely over confident like Whip getting taken down a peg or two did bring about a sense of glee, a very minor one I tried to keep from showing. So I would have let it go if he hadn't been so damned smug, now, it was on.

I had kept myself as deadpan as possible when I congratulated the team on their time and then dismissed them, without mentioning Whip or his unconscious state, but, all the while, I been planning our revenge. What I had decided on was to make Hevy Whips unofficial handler. If, for any reason, I needed Whip and couldn't find him I would get Hevy to fetch him for me. I had made sure it was for the most petty things possible as well. Things like just wanting to check up on Whip, to pet his head or to even play catch with him but only throwing the ball once then letting Whip run off again, all the while Hevy stood to the side at attention. It was petty but it felt glorious. Cortana had even joked that giving Hevy the runaround had even chiselled a small smile onto my stone cold face, I liked to think I was more composed than to let people know I was very much enjoying Hevy's suffering.

Speaking of, I saw Whip run across my vision, dragging Hevy along with him. It looked like Hevy had gotten his hand stuck in Whips armour while trying to wrestle him to me. With a quick whistle Whip came bounding up to me and took his place in line with the rest of the squad, who had arrived only moments earlier.

'If, huff, you can do that sir, oh my gods, why do you have me get him all the time?' Hevy, somehow, had managed to finally wiggle his hand free and get to his feet.

'Because you shot my dog.' Once the chuckles from the rest of them died down I told them of our mission. We were going into the city to look for any evidence of the Morgukai and how they got here as well as try to track down the location of their headquarters, if we could. We knew they were based in the capital, which narrowed our search, so we would be looking for any evidence that pointed to an exact location within it.

Outside of the gates I gave Whip the Cortosis staff I took from one of the Morgukai to see if he could track the sent. Within seconds he was off, making sure to stop and wait every time he was out of sight for too long, before shooting off again. He had lead us around the streets and down some of the back alleys before finally stopping a few hundred yards from a speeder. I wouldn't have even taken notice if he hadn't dropped to the floor and stared at it. Not noticing anything out of the ordinary at first, but trusting Whip knew that something was wrong, I switched to infrared vision and the speeder just lit up.

Nikto were a reptilian species and so suffered from the same weaknesses as the rest of their brethren, the main one being they were cold blooded. The speeder was a large transport speeder but was producing enough heat to warm the entire compound, the odd thing was I couldn't feel any despite being so close. It must have some sort of shield generator, probably either particle or energy. I had the team stay with Whip as I approached. As I entered the shield my suit started to blare out warnings, enough to alert Cortana who had chimed in to see if I was fine. There wasn't just a massive amounts of heat but radiation too. Opening the back of the truck revealed a very small nuclear generator hooked up to the shield generator.

Nikto have a high tolerance level to radiation, in fact they possessed 6 different coloured subspecies due to being bombarded by the radiation of a dying star at some point during their evolution, so it wasn't a totally insane idea for them to use nuclear fusion as a heat source when you were in a windowless van and deprived of the sun, but there were very few species that matched their level of resistance. If I disabled the generator the shield would shut down and all the residual radiation would bombard everyone in the city, possibly beyond. I closed the doors and moved to the front of the speeder. Taking out Cortana's chip and inserting it into the dash she quickly got to work downloading all the information it had recorded. Once done I took out the chip and returned to the men.

'So, what next? Are we taking the speeder in?'

'No. We need a team of specialists to deal with this.' Hevy continued.

'What's wrong?' After informing them of the dangerous levels of radiation they all grew alarmed, with Kix asking if I was alright.

'I'm fine. Spartan armour is lead lined.' Hevy started to praise Dr. Halsey for thinking of everything and ensuring she took every precaution with the Mjolnir armour so I corrected him by telling him the Mjolnir is lead lined because it is a necessity not a precaution. That brought about some confusion so I elaborated by telling them about the nuclear reactor strapped to my chest that powers the suit. Just then Cortana contacted me and said the speeder comes from a junkyard nearby. As I started heading off Hevy decided that my revelation about the armour wasn't quite satisfactory.

'So, we're _not_ going to talk about the fact we have been fighting beside what is essentially a nuclear bomb that could go off if his suit is ever breached?!'

'Hevy.'

'Yes sir.'

'Shut the fuck up.' With a quick _right away sir_ and another round of chuckles from the rest of them no one mentioned the reactor again. Rex had trained Hevy well. It was only a few minutes of walking before we arrived at the junkyard so we were soon in Breach and Clear positions.

I forced open the door while Hevy tossed in a flashbang. Upon hearing the bang Hevy immediately took the lead and entered the building. From there it was standard procedure, moving room to room looking for hostiles, friendlies or civilians. It was Kix who found the owner, who was found lying on his bed, wide awake but not moving.

Upon entering the room I saw Kix checking for a pulse, giving the all clear. Then the owner, a pantoran, shot up, resulting in 6 guns trained on him. He ignored us and stood up, moving to the door. Fives moved out of his way before we followed behind. The owner moved to the kitchen and took out some basic food ingredients for a meal and placed them on a plate before grabbing a glass and filling it with water. Now he was just stood their eating and drinking, still completely ignoring us and not even cooking his bland collection of food.

'It's like he's running on instinct alone.' Kix was the only trained medic and seemed to be finding this whole thing a little too fasinating. Fives offered his thoughts on the whole thing.

'Do you think he knows we're here?' It was the owner who answered.

'Yes.' This time 5 guns were aimed at him, I only did so last time as we were unsure on the man's intentions. The men then decided to start asking the most inane questions to him, all of which he answered, but I noticed he didn't elaborate or offer any more than the bare basics to fully answer the question, just like the Jedi back at base.

'It's fascinating. It looks like his subconscious mind is controlling him, while also having a tentative connection to the conscious mind, enough so he is aware of his surrounding and when he is being addressed. It's the exact opposite of a regular person.' Deciding to get things back on track I spoke up.

'It's acts like a truth serum.' I turned to address the owner.

'Did a group of Nikto come here?'

'Yes.'

'What did they want?'

'Access to the yard.'

'Why?'

'I don't know'

'Do you know where they came from?'

'No.'

'How did they get here?'

'On a speeder.'

'Where is the Nikto's speeder?'

'In the yard.'

'Can you show us?'

'Yes.' Nothing, he hadn't moved at all, just answered the question. I then ordered him to take us to the speeder and he did so immediately.

So I was right. While the owner had answered the question he hadn't gotten up to show us the speeder. While the team had been asking their questions my mind went back to the troopers on duty at the base. They, out of everyone infected, either on the base or in town, were the only ones doing their jobs. Why? Because they were the only ones ordered to. What ever happened it didn't just make you docile and tell the truth but it also acted as a sort of mind control. A fact I proved when I ordered the owner to take us to the speeder. The troopers on duty must have received their orders either before their Generals were infected or before they began to feel the effects. Kix seemed to realise the same thing.

Things were becoming even more concerning. Somehow those involved, in some way, managed to create a drug of some kind that, not only, makes people amenable and compliant but can be used to control them, like some sort of mind control or hypnosis. Next came the questions. It wasn't unreasonable for such a drug to spread across the planet, having had over a week to spread and the fact those infect can't report it so it can't easily be contained, but why hadn't the fleet done anything? They accepted our codes and waved us through but could that have been because they were infected too? They should have done something when troops on the ground failed to report in, unless they too had been infected. But then how were they infected? Possibly a trooper had been instructed to infect the fleet and did so due to their new compliance, so why had they stopped there? If the ones who did this had so many opportunities to either kill or turn our troopers against us why hadn't they? And if they hadn't done so, why send the group of Morgukai that had just entered the base? And, most importantly, why hadn't the Republic noticed any of this? Things were just getting more out of hand.

While the team went to secure the speeder, making sure to check for radiation, I called Halsey to report the situation. She had apparently been waiting for a Saleucami report for nearly a week now but had lost contact with the team here, which is why the Chancellor sent us. That explains one thing.

'Who else knows?' Straight to the point, as usually.

'Only myself and Hevy's team know the full extent but the 501st and Commander Offee know about it making people more docile and alert.'

'Make sure it stays that way, all official reports are to have no mention of either _side effect_.'

'Understood. What about the Chancellor?' Halsey took a second before responding.

'ONI is in charge of keeping the Chancellor up to date on important information and on anything else he needs to know. ONI says he doesn't need to know. Oh and John, if you happen to find a sample of the serum or drug, or even find the written formula, remember that my birthday is coming up soon and a good gift for any mother is perfume and a card.'

'Understood.' I closed communications and headed to the speeder.

Nikto were one of the more aggressive species in the galaxy and had been involved in a lot of wars over their history before being enslaved by the Hutts, so they weren't the most inventive or creative of people. That said, they did have their moments. There speeders, for example, were highly prized by reptilian species due to their abilities warm the cold blooded. Due to the sensitivity of reptilian biology they needed to make their speeders warm them up, before cooling off fast enough that the reptiles didn't overheat. This had lead to an ingenious mix of heat absorption, heat retention and heat loss features in their speeders. Though they were ugly to look at.

After spending a second to watch as 5 grown men and hardened soldiers started to complain about the air conditioning and the heat of the speeder I decided to help out, the scene having turned from mildly amusing to genuinely sad in a matter of moments. So, I walked up to the front of the craft, turning off the heat, sat in the back and ordered Hevy to take us back to base, all the while ignoring the group of complete children I had decided to bring with me. Looking down at the dog curled up in my lap, it seemed I wasn't the only exasperated with them.


	31. Chapter 31

John POV

Upon returning to the base we immediately got to working on extracting information from the speeder. We looked at the navigation computer, fuel consumption, speedometer, the works, all just to narrow down the search area as much as possible. Cortana was collecting all of this data together and working with the logistics division to help find any areas the speeder could have started from that was in or around Taleucema.

While this was going on I went to update the Chancellor on the current situation. After hearing about the effect this drug seemed to have on the local populace the Chancellor asked how viable it was to suppress a rebellious population. Until we know how it is made, and how it affects different races, we can't really estimate on its effectiveness but if we had little problems creating it then I would recommend a diluted version, to make them more docile but nowhere near as mindless. The Chancellor then said he would leave it in ONI's hands. Next we discussed my plan of action for Taleucema.

My original plan had been to level the city, destroying the largest droid presence on the planet and the Morgukai, before sweeping what was left and moving on to the rest of the droids around the planet. The only problem was the Chancellor wanted a field test of our new gear so had ordered me to make this a ground assault, and he was the one who said I had to be merciless.

By all reports the droid presence hadn't expanded and, without their commander, they should only operate on the most basic of functions. This meant hordes of simple minded droids that would march towards their enemy in parade formation until they were shot. To deal with this I needed to find a way to mowdown droves of enemy droids while limiting the risk of my men being over run. In short, I wanted Saber Tanks clearing the streets with infantry support.

AT-TE Cobras will be used in a second wave with their own infantry support, possibly Bull but it would depend. Normally I would have Bull Rancor use their new armour to flank the droids and then pierce into the heart of their command, before taking it out. Fortunately this didn't look to be necessary but I wanted to see if the droids showed any level of competency before deciding to send them out on their own or with the Cobras.

Our next problem was the Morgukai. By all accounts, what reports the Generals sent before we lost contact and ONI's findings, the Morgukai had been trained as assassins. They may be a Warrior Cult but they were known for their lack of morals unless it directly affected their honor. I didn't want to leave the men to ambushes from Morgukai Warriors so, I was first planning to find the Nikto Cloning facilities and sending in teams to infiltrate and destroy them before the main assault even began. I was in half a mind about whether to go myself but, either way, Rex would be going with them, his mechanical arm and eye had proven to be an effective combo at dealing with higher level threats.

Finally, the Chancellor wanted my recommendation about what to do with the planet after removing the Separatists. I suggested removing our troops offworld before detoxing them while leaving the local population infected. This drug, whatever it was, had pacified one of the staunchest supporters of the Confederacy, leaving it would mean we wouldn't have to spend time or resources trying to absorb the population back into the Republic. Then there was the fact I am sure Halsey had plans to send multiple ONI teams to influence the general population of the planet to turn them to our side by issuing them orders, making them true sleeper agents. If she wasn't planning on doing this I would suggest it myself.

After the report to the Chancellor and my follow up report to Halsey, as I had to because I was still technically an ONI asset, I organised some scout teams to check on the situation in the capital. These teams could then be redirected to check out the locations that Logistics comes up with for the Clone facilities. Our next task was to send some samples, food, water and a Morgukai body or to, to Medical. I didn't expect much, we didn't exactly have top of the line medical equipment let alone for research, but even identifying what was safe and what was infected would help. If they discovered something that could help detox the Generals and their troops then that would also be appreciated.

Now we just had to wait.

* * *

John POV

While Cortana and Barriss, who was helping in Medical, were extremely busy most of us weren't. I understand that finding the necessary information needed to start my plan could take time, and was extremely crucial, but I was used to it already being done, or at least partially, before I arrived. I was sent to clean up messes not to find out what the mess was so this waiting around was new for me, and it was making me twitchy.

While Rex and the other officers had set up a few games in the command centre, having learned to block out the creepy standing around and sitting of the other troopers and Generals in the room, but I was too ready to be able to relax like them. I wasn't nervous by any means, but my body was already in Fight or Flight mode, the default setting being Fight, so it was hard to calm down. And my unease had apparently been affecting the others.

I can't think of a single instance where Rex had shouted at me before, but apparently there was a first time for everything.

The other were playing Sabacc and Rex just blew up at me, asking if I could _stop for a fucking second_ as I was throwing off his game. I took a second to look at the rest of them, I guess we were all soldiers to our core. I had thought they had being playing as a way to pass the time while they were relaxing but after taking the time to observe them I realised they were playing because they were nervous. Sabacc was an attempt to distract their minds from the wait, so I sat down to join them.

We moved from hand to hand and game to game when I realised we had spent the last 2 hours playing and that it was time for the next shift, and the only reason I realised this was because the next shift had come to relieve us. We threw down our hands to see who had won before leaving behind the cards and the chips for the other troopers, though none of the others at the table had a problem with this as my hand, once again, won by a mile. It was a wonder I wasn't invited to more of the officers gambling nights.

* * *

John POV

Using a set of Macrobinoculars I tried to see if I could spot any droids, paying particular attention to any windows and street corners. While I was asleep the scout teams sent to observe Taleucema had been working overtime with Cortana. Their original objective had been to observe the droids and report on what they found. This resulted in multiple reports that there was no droid presence in the street of the city whatsoever, a very concerning statement. Cortana had sent half the teams into the city while the other half went to look for the Clone Headquarters from the targets outside of it. While the teams on the outside, and even from those sent to investigate the sites in the city outskirts, had reported the all clear any team sent into the city itself hadn't reported in at all.

Current estimates of droid forces was somewhere between top end of hundreds of thousands and the low end of millions. Discounting the fact that we had no support from the troopers back at base, though we would still be vastly outnumbered even with their help, due to not wanting to mess with the whole subliminal suggestion thing and give those troopers orders in case of permanent damage, we now had no viable intel on droid placements.

I currently had 120,000 men under my command with the latest military gear that were about to go up against a force that numbered anywhere from 5 to 50 times the size. We had no idea what types of troops they had, where the Morgukai were based or the defences that were set up. All we knew was that the droids were active. We were in for a tough fight.

Setting up some of the Cobras on a nearby ridge I ordered a bombardment on the city to see if we could shake up the hive. Within minutes swarms of droids came rushing to set up defences around the impact area, just as they had been programmed.

Taking another looked revealed the basic droid army set up, B-1's, 2's, AAT's, along with some new additions. Some Commando droids were moving into buildings, probably setting up an overwatch position to snipe from, we had some Dwarf Spider droids setting up as some sort of makeshift turret and then there was the armour. They had some AAT's that were taking positions in the streets with some Hailfire support, nothing too fancy. The only out of place was the crab droids that were scaling the broken buildings to get a look around. They were probably meant for more rural engagements but we were in the city and the Sepy's were sending all they had, so here they were. This was actually some good news as usually they would help defend a base along with Dwarf Spiders and some infantry rather than be sent to the front. While the setup indicated the droids were being controlled the fact crab droids were being used in a city means the commander was very incompetent, it could always be a ploy but that was highly doubtful.

I pulled the Cobras back into line and had Bull move to the Eastern sectors of the city while I took the men to the North West sectors. The droids had set up their defences in our current position in the Southern sectors so I was hoping they would leave these defences, giving us less to deal with. Without having any teams to send to clear out the Morgukai I decided to send Rex with Bull while taking command of the main assault. Barriss was our Commander so she was in the command centre and meant to keep an eye on the situation there. I took all my troops with me so she would have to make so with whatever troops were currently on guard duty.

Once I had found a good spot to hide the troops, a close set of hills about a few hundred meters away from the city streets with a large forest to the side, I took lead of Storm battalion and moved them down the dirt path leading into the city. We were currently crawling alongside the path in the underbrush to hide our movements but we soon reached the end of it, which ended at a one hundred meter plain in full view of the droid defences. It was a similar setup to the other one except the crab droids were on the roof of some of the buildings, I would need the Cobras or the ODST's of Torrent to deal with them.

I sent orders to Hevy to send in the Sabers, which immediately came under fire as soon as they crested the hill. At their current range it shouldn't be too bad but it would get worse the closer they get. With the Sabers taking the fire I had lead Storm in a charge at the enemies defences, quickly crossing that hundred meter gap. Our immediate targets were the Dwarf Spiders, which could be used as anti-infantry or anti-vehicle, but we weren't neglecting to deal with the rest.

With the Dwarfs disabled and the Sabers entering the streets it was time for the second wave. The new Cobras were much faster than the original AT-TE's but were still a slow vehicle. Our weeks of training seemed to be paying off as the tanks were like walking snipers, picking off hit Hailfire tanks even though they were hidden behind AAT's. The fact the Cobras had to fire through the AAT's to the Hailfire's didn't seem to be a problem.

With ODST's scaling building to reach the crabs, ARC troopers clearing out the Commando droids and the Commando troopers drawing the droid fire we quickly cleared out the droids, meaning it was time for Rex and Bull to make their move.

Taleucema was a city that was several hundred kilometres long with hundreds of thousands of buildings and millions of inhabitants. A city this size would be a nightmare to walk around so I had Storm and Torrent mount on the Cobras and Sabers while we moved further in, due to the weight of my armour I chose to mount on the lead AT-TE so that I didn't strain the repulsor lifts.

We were soon sent into a mad scramble to dismount when the lead Saber was hit with a rocket. Some B-1's had set up an ambush and were quickly overwhelmed by troopers but that just revealed another group who blew up the building when the troopers went to clear it out. A team of ODST's took the initiative to use their jump jets and thrusters to start wall running across buildings, all at different heights, to see if there were any droids hidden inside. Due to the need of continuous momentum they were crisscrossing the street as they moved from building to building, throwing grenades into any occupied window. Obviously a few were missed but they were quickly handled.

The further we moved into the city the battles were move of the same, either a high concentration of troops defending key locations or ambushes, and they were whittling down or numbers. We did get a break, however, when the droids critical thinking dropped and they no longer had the capacity to ambush our troops and their defensive capabilities became basic at best, it seems Rex had finished his job. While the defensive setups remained the droids no longer chose the most suitable targets but the lead ones. Now all we had to do was move up some Cobras and the rest of the troops behind, sure we lost a few more Cobras but that was marginal compared to what we would lose otherwise.

With the steady progress of our troops the rest of the 501st met back up with Bull Rancor and Rex, who had set up a defensive perimeter around the droid control centre. Using the troop information Rex and his men found we started to coordinate different attacks on the remaining droids while also arranging for teams to search the rest of Cortana's list for that cloning facility.

Speaking of the Morgukai, they had been conspicuously absent from any fighting that took place, even the ambushes. Rex said there were a few protecting the obviously infected droid commander, who hadn't even reacted to a gun pointed in his face, but other than that there were none.

'At least we know know this stuff works.' Rex and I were currently going over the casualty reports and comparing them to the droid numbers. Our new armour seemed to really help as our casualty rate, while a fair amount, was nothing compared to Geonosis and there was a greater droid to clone ratio in Taleucema than the entire Second Battle, though the main problem had been the new weapons not the standard droids but it was a point in the armours favour. With over 3,000,000 droids, from Separatist reports, and our initial 120,000 we were outnumbered 25:1. Our estimated numbers were nearly 6,000 dead and 18,000 casualties, around 20% of our actual numbers, which was close to the numbers we expected at the start of the war. With this level of success this new gear should be going into full production as soon as possible.

As we were finalising troop transports and location with Cortana and Barriss the ODST scouts had sent in the last of the reports about Cortana's list. It seems the Cloning was down in a set of underground tunnels, something of a reoccurring theme with the Separatists. The tunnel entrance was located in the sewers near to a junkyard, most likely where they kept their speeders, and had been secured by the ODST team before they called it in.

I called up several Storm and Bull teams and was arranging to group them into several strike teams. I would lead the first and would be the lead team, Rex would take the second and Echo and Fives would take teams three and four. Our objectives were to find where the clones were being made and disable it, kill or capture all staff or Morgukai within the facility and find all the information we could on the virus. Due to Rex not being a part of the team that knows the extent of the drug I was having his team be made up of more ODST's to destroy the cloning facilities while the other 3 teams will concentrate on finding the information and staff members.

Once done I left Hevy in charge of infield operations and it was time to head out.

* * *

Yularen POV

'It's been getting kind of boring recently hasn't it?' Cortana had hit the nail on the head, I had thought I had been more subtle. Now, I didn't wish for this fighting to continue, nor did I wish to be a part of it, but if fighting was going to happen then I just wish I could actually help out. I am a trained Naval Officer with a fair few credits to his name and I had been basically relegated to playing clean up or sitting and waiting until the Master Chief needed me and my men to shoot at some city or another.

While I much preferred working with the Master Chief, him ironically being the more approachable of the two men I had worked with, it was just that I felt my talents as a commander weren't being expressed or utilised to their full potential, not that this was the Chief's fault, he didn't pick our assignments.

In fact I would always be secondary to the Chief. Not only was he the only General to have been promoted during the war, he was the only General in the war, on our side, with actual training and experience prior to the First Battle of Geonosis. He was the Chancellor's new favourite so we would always be assigned missions that would showcase the Master Chief and will promote his profile, like some sort of living propaganda. That doesn't mean I am above sharing my grievances with my old friend Sheev.

I had gotten to know Cortana very well over our time together, partly due to our close proximity and partly because she had made an active effort to try, and so she sometimes flittered between ships just to come and say hi every one in awhile. Now was one such time. Though I do suspect she also liked the fact that, while the troopers on the Xiphos seemed to have gotten used to her antics and no longer gave her a rise when she did her little flirting thing, my troopers didn't have such exposure to desensitise them. As if to prove my point Cortana had just sent a wink to one of my deck officers that caused him to miss a step and end up sprawled on the floor.

The Chief was currently cleaning up the mess on the planet, the whole thing just further proved the depravity of the Separatists. With the Chief moving further and further into the capital it looked like another boring _sit and twiddle your thumbs_ kind of mission for us here in space. It seems the universe was in sync with me today, and also seemed to be on my side, as a large Separatist fleet had just jumped into the system. It seems we would be seeing some action after all.


	32. Chapter 32

Cortana POV

John always did have a sense of timing, unfortunately this was the wrong time. Just as the Separatist fleet jumped into system John had called for a deep scan of the planet, to map out the tunnel systems under Taleucema. Now, if we lost this engagement we would need to jump out of the system quickly so we needed to take out that Morgukai cloning facility before then, if it was even needed at all, so one of the Acclamator's was sent to scan the planet for John but it was the only one that could be spared, if it was shot down before completing its scan John would have to go in without one. The next problem was the large amount of inactive ships around the planet.

We now had solid confirmation that the rest of the Republic fleet was infected because they didn't seem to care that they were being fired upon. Luckily they did accept communications and, thanks to the subliminal side effect, we could issue orders to these ships but not before we lost 2 Acclamator's and some were heavily damaged.

Yularen took immediate command of the situation and started issuing orders for group formations and an overall battle plan. It was the first time I had really seen Yularen take such a command and it was definitely something to watch. We had gone over some mock scenarios during the 501st retraining but the only real experience we had with him in a space battle was in Ciutric or Geonosis. For Ciutric we had basically steamrolled their defences and headed to the ground assault and we were just a small part of the battle at Geonosis.

It wasn't advisable for me to return to the Xiphos so a replacement pilot would take control while I moved to take command of the Resolute. Yularen had placed us at the head of a double layered spear attack, this meant he had set up his formation in a V shape with a second V behind that. The thing was this was an attack formation.

Ordering full thrust, Yularen lead a counter charge right into the enemies clustered battle group. They had Lucrehulk control ships, Providence class dreadnaughts, Munificent class frigates and some Lucrehulk supply ships but no discernible formation. Our rather surprising use of offence seemed to have thrown off whatever commander was in charge of the droid forces as they all scattered in different directions. Yularens next move was to bring the second line under our own formation and attack the ships who scattered to our left from below.

The ships on the left were now cut off and had to face most of our forces while the right side was blocked from attacking our rear by the right side of the first V. It was a bold and overly aggressive strategy that I hadn't expected from such a reserved commander, though I suppose that was the point.

The only downside of this overly aggressive move was that we hadn't left anything to defend the planet and stop the droids from landing.

While we were busy overwhelming the ships on the left, the smaller of the two groups, the droid commander seemed to cut their losses and head straight for the planet, leaving behind a small force to occupy the ships defending our flank. Due to the fact we were now fully committed to this assault we couldn't give chase without getting ourselves caught between two different forces and surrounded, so the droids were left to land without problems. Knowing that we could bombard them when we won up here they headed straight towards the only two occupied cities, knowing we wouldn't bombard our own men.

I immediately opened up communications with Hevy, the officer left in charge of the Taleucema defence, to tell him about the large amounts of droid forces heading his way and that he would be without air support until we dealt with what's left up here.

The next call was to Barriss, who had become understandably panicked upon learning about the droids heading her way, but I decided to break ONI confidentiality protocols and inform her about the subliminal suggestions she can implant into her troopers. She would have to micromanage the entirety of the 212th and Krayt ground forces, giving them each step by step instructions and telling how to react if they encounter certain situations, like ambushes or if they are being overrun, because they wouldn't be able to themselves. But, at least we would be able to fight back without the entirety of the two Legions being wiped out without putting up a fight. All Barriss had to do was hold out until we could send in air support or relieve the 501st to send them in support to help.

I realise I could be punished in a multitude of different ways for breaking protocol and I know suppressing this information afterwards, as well as reversing the suggestions given to the troopers, afterwards will be a nightmare, but that was better than losing two of our best legions for nothing along with, statistically, two of our best Generals and one of the best up and coming Commanders.

Besides, mum should let me off easy. I did it for a good reason after all, one that even she couldn't argue.

* * *

Fives POV

You could tell when the Sepy's arrived because the tunnels started shaking. They must have been strafing the city and started dropping bombs or something, but I wasn't too worried about it, Hevy had grown a lot from boot camp, he would do fine leading the troops. Thanks to 99 he really started to believe in himself, which pulled the rest of us together and gave him even more confidence, especially when we made him the unofficial team leader.

This new Hevy, one brimming with confidence at the complements received from Halsey at our last evaluation, had all these thought about how we were going to go and make a name for ourselves, that we would immediately be assigned to one of the front line Legions and take part in grand campaigns like Geonosis, and how we would be the fast troopers to join the ODST's and earn ourselves a pair of Jaig Eyes. Oh the look on his face when we had been assigned to some no name, backwater lookout post had been priceless.

But then we became a part of the 501st, we got a new commander, we joined the ODST's and we even got ourselves some promotions. Hevy had proven everyone wrong and shown them all just what he was really capable of, so I wasn't worried. No matter what we went up against Hevy would always pull through and no amount of clankers could ever bring him down.

I was worried about the tunnel though. All this shaking couldn't be good.

Currently I was looking for, well, anyone really. Our mission said Separatist scientists or leaders but we were also to watch out for any droids or one of these Morgukai things, so that basically meant anyone. I was leading a team towards one of the many open cavern areas found from the deep scans in the hopes of finding something. So far my team and I had clear 3 of them and found nada, nothing, zilch. It was kinda disheartening when there was a massive battle taking place overhead and you were stuck trying to do something important and failing.

Thankfully the next cavern sounded promising. You could hear a pair of voices from the room up ahead and they seemed to be talking about the Morgukai clones and some called The Feed. My team and I moved up to the tunnel entrance to get a better look at the two and noticed they were both human. While humans weren't exactly rare for the Separatists, most humans lived in the core worlds or didn't have much of a grievance with the Republic so, it wasn't common for them to join the Separatists. The smaller one seemed to be a scientist, if his lab coat meant anything, while the other looked one of the Morgukai trainers in some light combat armour. Only one was an actual threat but they are both targets and we had orders to eliminate.

The room itself seemed to be a lab of sorts, but not one for growing clones, unless it was at the embryonic stage. Most probably we had found the source of the virus or a new virus they were developing, The Feed didn't exactly sound like a sleepy, brainwashing kind of name.

Bursting into the room I immediately took aim at the scientist and released two bolts into his back before moving to the armoured foe. Watching him move made me reassess my previous assumption of him being human, because he was moving way too fast for that to be true.

Despite our enhanced manoeuvrability this person still kept pace, and had even engaged in melee combat with another member of the team. Despite being preoccupied, having three separate streams of fire and having shown no signs of such speed when rushing his target, this near human being grabbed the trooper he had been about to engage in melee and threw him into one of the streams of blaster bolts while dodging the other two. They had then jumped into a tuck and roll to get closer to our groups so we were about to jump jet out of the way before a headache slammed into me and I dropped to my knees. A quick look showed this happened to the others as well but I couldn't concentrate on that as the pressure in my head kept building, until it abruptly ended.

I felt like my head was in a cloud, that someone else had control of my body. This was only further confounded by the fact my head seemed to be turning on its own to face the other two troopers. I didn't even know their names, they were just a group of hastily selected ODST's that were placed under my command before we started this Op.

The near human being walked up to one of the two and took his helmet off before pulling the troopers face towards him. A pair of tentacle like things started growing from next to the beings nose, before they moving into the troopers. A quick shout of pain was quickly smothered into glassy eyes and a blank expression.

The tentacles slowly retreated and the being let the trooper fall to the floor, dead. He then moved onto the next trooper and started the same process again, with the same brief shout of pain and then the same blank expression before the trooper also fell dead to the floor. The only thing was, when this being got to me he said something as he was taking off my helmet. _I don't like drinking clones, they're never very filling._ To be honest I couldn't be bothered caring what that meant because after a brief shot of intense pain there was a sudden rush of euphoria as my vision started to fade. It was the best thing I had ever felt in all my life.

* * *

John POV

My team and I had been making steady progress clearing rooms. So far we had found two teams of 4 and 5 scientists each. One of the teams was held found when they were trying to evacuate the facility. Obviously we had to stop them, a quick burst of plasma to the backs, followed by some explosives to collapse the tunnel to stop any more getting away, seemed to work well enough.

The second team had been set up in a laboratory with tons of vials held behind some glass cases and an open water pipe, at least we now knew for sure what the drug had contaminated. The scientists had been pouring more of the stuff into the water pipes before our abrupt entrance, ending their lives. I made sure to pocket a sample away from the eyes of the team to send back to Halsey. After that it had been pretty much quiet as we moved from cavern to cavern.

We were again going through the motions to clear the next cavern but, so far, this one seemed empty too, just a few empty cloning vats and a balcony overhead, before a headache slammed into me, causing me to stumble. It steadily grew worse, until I was forced to my knee.

'I must commend you, you are much stronger than your men. The other team was so easy to feed off of.' A human male wandered in from one of the side tunnels and looked like he didn't have a care in the world, despite the battle raging on the surface. I tried to push myself back to my feet but the pain just grew worse.

'Now, now. Stay right there and I'll tell you a story.' He moved over to one of the troopers and took off his helmet. Then, some proboscises unfurled from the side of the nose of, what could only be, an Anzat. Anzats were notoriously known as Vampires due to their ridiculously long lives and the fact they stole a person's life force to feed. Scientists said it was a certain part of the brain, the Jedi said it was a person's connection to the Force but the Anzat, they just called it Soup.

The Anzat were Assassins by nature, they would have to be to feed the way they do, but many were known for taking up many different hobbies but never going far enough to achieve mastery of them. Their long lives meant they never saw the point in mastering any art other than Assassination as anyone of comparable skill would die long before themselves, so they just saw mastery as a wasted effort, true Jacks of all Trades. Their feeding usually killed the person they were feeding off of but they sometimes savoured their meals and kept prey alive, allowing them to recover before feeding again. It was hard to suppress a person with their mind powers, as was happening now, at all times, especially feeding, so they usually kept those strong or tasty enough to be worth the effort prisoner to feed on until death. Very few escaped an Anzat feeding.

The pain of their feeding was legendary to those who knew of this race so it was odd to see the fed upon trooper letting out only a brief yelp.

'You look like your piecing it together, but then again, they do say you Spartans are superior in every way to regular clones. I wonder, is that the same for in here?' He had made his way over to me as he was talking and had now started to caress my helmet.

'You have an extremely strong will, I haven't had to use this level of effort on any other being in the galaxy, and I've fed on many a being. I wonder if the rest of your kind are just as strong willed. I wonder how they taste. But that's for later. Now, would like to know what has happened here?' The pain felt odd, not lessened or increased just odd, like it was trying to get me to do something. I was resisting with all my might but the Anzat had finally managed to squeeze a yes out of me.

'Well, let me start by saying that I, Rath Kelkko, am the next stage of Anzat evolution. As I am sure you know or have guessed, an Anzat feeds on the _brain_ of others through our _tentacles_. The difference between myself and the rest of my race, however, is the fact that my _tentacles_ can inject a set of chemicals into the brain of another that suppresses their consciousness, I am sure you have seen its effects above ground.

'Over my many millenia I have learned that I don't have to completely drain my food, though it is very tempting, which also spares me from being hunted and, over the years, I learned that my prey is also susceptible to commands.' He took a break there to feed on another of the ODST's before smacking his lips and continuing.

'Clone troopers aren't the most filling meal, no substance, almost as if they themselves had been brainwashed to an extent.

'Anyway. Over my years I had grown more and more frustrated with my half feeding, or my occasional, sporadic full feeds, so I had sought out a way to turn the chemical inside my _tentacles_ into a way to gorge myself. After many many years Dooku eventually approached me to train his Morgukai Assassin Warriors, an offer I quickly agreed. During my time here I had worked to… _convince_ , the scientists here that they should work to help me with my little project and to also keep it secret. With their help we managed to synthesis my feeding chemical to then be able to infect the whole population. And now, I have a whole planet to gorge myself on.

'For over a week I have fed and fed and fed, there have been so many hidden delicacies on this planet, and no one has stopped me. I have been able to eat as I please. I have even managed to influence the droid commander here to keep sending out reports to Dooku that everything was fine and that we were making steady progress against the Republic. This left me to just feed. I had even used some of the Morgukai to retrieve a rare treat for me to celebrate with, like a vintage wine, though it seems you put a dampener on my parade.' After again feeding on the last of my ODST troopers Kelkko stopped in front of me and lifted my chin to look at him.

'So, Spartan, what do you think?' Again he had been putting pressure on me until I spoke.

'I think you talk too much.' With that I lashed out, Vornskr Claws in palm, and dug it behind his knee.

While Kelkko was talking I had being using what little motion I possessed to inch my hands to the Claws, before using the rest of my time to use my Juyo meditation techniques to recenter myself. It had worked and severely lessened the pain in my head. After ripping my Claw to the side, and destroying his knee, Kelkko dropped to the floor. From there I slammed my other hand into his closest shoulder and ripped chunks of that out before digging my first hand into the far side of his nose and yanking my hand towards me, ripping out his nose and proboscises. While he was writhing in pain I grabbed my Spartan Saber, ignited it, and slammed it into his chest, killing him. With that I climbed back to my feet and tried to rid myself of the last of the pain.

'Is it new Separatist policy to abandon their allies, or has it always been that way, with Gunray being an exception.'

'Are they allies if they so blatantly betray us? Do we then not have the right to abandon them in turn?'

'I suppose so, Sora Bulq.' On the balcony the greatest Republic traitor, the famed Jedi Battle Master Sora Bulq, stepped out of the shadows. He quickly vaulted over the balcony and stood across from me, on the other side of the room.

'I must say, I have been looking forward to this since your fight with Master Windu.'

'And I must say, I haven't thought about fighting you at all.' He seemed amused if nothing else.

'Well, let's change that then. Durge will be most displeased to learn that I will have killed you before he gets his rematch. He repeatedly states he has learned from his mistakes on Naboo, but that could be just because he's to have been told off by Dooku.' Well that was an insightful little titbit.

'Now,' I reignite my Spartan Saber variant blade, 'are we done sucking each other off, or do you need some more time before you're done?'

'A soldier's crude mouth. How fitting.'

'A recent development. At least it's not a sailor's.' With that I rushed forward, blade thrusting forward at the dar'jetii's chest. His shoto blade came to stop the thrust and pushed my blade to the side, while swinging his longer blade at me. I threw up my gauntlet which deactivated the blade due to the cortosis weaved into the metal. I threw a punch at Bulq's head but he dodged and blocked my follow up slash. Due to the shape of the blade I couldn't use some of the more finesse heavy moves that would allow me to get behind his blade, leaving me to pull back the blade and try again. While doing this Bulq used a Force Push to send me skidding back a few feet, though it seemed weaker than Windu's. I quickly changed to the dual blade variant of my saber and engaged in a vicious flurry of Juyo strikes that Bulq blocked using a combination of Niiman and Vaapad.

While From VI was a combination of the first 5 forms I could still recognise the different elements of Vaapad, meaning I could see it all. Windu had become a true Vaapad when he used this style, striking with 8 to 20 invisible strikes moving to fast to see, where as Bulq, for all his boasting of mastery, was so slow I could see it all. If forced to make a comparison, Bulq was like a regular person who had just picked up a blade and Windu was the trained Jedi they were compared to, meaning there was no comparison, Windu was better by far. Seeing this I decided to show Bulq what someone competent in Vaapad could do.

Bulq reactivated his main blade but was unprepared for the Form change, and the fact the form I started using was Vaapad. His pitiful defence was swept aside in seconds and I score multiple cuts across his body, unfortunately nothing too serious. The force I could put behind the blade made any hastily thrown together blade ineffective against such heavy strikes.

To get some more room Bulq used Force Push again but I used my bottom blade to slow myself down, leaving me closer than last time. Launching right back at him my blade blurred into a thin blue wall of plasma. After knocking his blade to the side once again I kicked Bulq in the chest, hearing at least two ribs snap. In retaliation Bulq used Force Lightning. Juyo and Vaapad were both weak to Force techniques so my block did little to stop the lightning heading my way, catching a few strands at most.

I was forced to my knees for the second time today and could only watch in agony as lightning flooded my body. My suit was blaring warnings and system errors as the shield was constantly overloading and shorting out, along with most other systems. The only reason this stopped was because 3 short bursts of blaster bolts slammed into Bulq's back.

After firing another burst into his head Rex came to help me to my feet. He hadn't found the cloning chambers yet but he had heard the sound of the lightning and had come rushing with his team to help. The movements of my suit were still stiff but I could move, which was the main thing. It seems Halsey _hadn't_ planned for everything.

When Rex asked what to do with the body I told him to take the head and leave the body. He asked why so I told him we would be using the head to allow the Jedi to confirm Bulq's death.

'Again, why? Wouldn't the lightsabers be enough?'

'We won't be giving the lightsabers to the Jedi.' After collecting Bulq's lightsabers off the ground I turned to Rex and held them out to him. It was his kill so it was his reward. He was slightly hesitant about taking them, and only accepted after getting a promise out of me to teach him how to use them. Next came the topic of our own dead. We would have to come back for them, while also trying to locate this other team the Anzat feasted on, before taking them back for a proper funeral, they deserved better than to be buried.

I joined up with Rex and his men to clear the last of the facility and encountered some more scientists and Morgukai. We were once again left to fight off these Nikto but we were making short work of them. The M-series blasters were firing at a rate hey just couldn't keep up with, combined with the new armour, the Morgukai hadn't stood a chance. The scientists surrendered after seeing this but I ordered them to be executed either way, this drug could never make its way back into Separatist hands.

The Morgukai had been protecting the growth chambers so while the men rigged explosives around them Rex and I moved to see what was behind the heavy duty door of to the side. It had an odd key hole thing in the centre that looked fit for a blade so I tried some of the staffs from the dead Morgukai before eventually finding a staff that was far more intricate than the rest, and gave it a turn. It seemed to have worked as the door started turning, it could be a trap but they usually happen instantaneously. As the door opened we quickly realised that it was the door to the Morgukai training yards and their barracks, this was because a few thousand Nikto faces turned to stare at us. Well then.

After close to a minute of staring, neither side starting the fighting, I took a tentative step into the yard, keeping my eyes on a swivel and making sure none make any sudden moves. Upon reaching the centre they dropped to their knees with and arm across their chests, like they were declaring fealty. It took me a second, and another look at the staff I was holding, to realise that was exactly what they were doing. I must have killed the genetic template, the original owner of this staff, who would have been the leader. With his death at my hands, by Morgukai tradition, I was the new leader. Again, Rex asked what to do.

The Chancellor would be sending the 501st on the most undesirable missions, and those sometimes included getting rid of people that were no longer needed. And to do that you needed assassins. It would be a shame to waste such a valuable resource so I was going to do, what any reasonable Mandalorian would do, and adopt them all as Mandalorians and make them a part of my Legion. From the way they were acting the Morgukai must have been given liberal helpings of whatever drug the Anzat made, The Feed if the scientist reports are correct, a name that doesn't make much sense without context, so I wasn't worried about them betraying us.

Heading back to the surface, with my new assassination division in toe, I made sure to collect the bodies and meet back up with Echos team along the way. Upon reaching the surface we received a frosty welcoming in the form of multiple blasters in our faces, but then that was to be expected when we had been sent to eliminate the Morgukai threat. Luckily I managed to talk Hevy down from shooting them by saying that we had eliminated the threat as they were now on our side, it wasn't the only thing I had to talk him down from.

After hearing what happened to his batch mate Hevy wanted a private funeral but I denied it. He had become angry and annoyed that he couldn't so he started saying how Fives was my friend and that he had done more than enough to deserve his own funeral. I just told Hevy if he wanted to desecrate Fives memory then he could have his private funeral. That brought him up short.

We had to have been speaking Basic for too long because Hevy had called Fives a hero. Thing was, there was no such word in Mando'a, as actions the ordinary members of the galaxy would call heroic are expected of every Mando. By having a separate funeral we would basically be saying that Fives wasn't good enough to be with the rest and had to die separately.

While Hevy was making the arrangements for the funeral, for all our dead from the assault, the defence and the clearing of the tunnels, I decided to get an update from the fleet. While some of the droid ships fled the system nearly were destroyed, either in space or on the ground. We had heavy 212th and Krayt losses in terms of both ships and men, but they were at least standing. Now all that was left was to contact the Chancellor and Halsey to tell them what had happened. Lets just hope I don't have to execute my new men, I was already thinking of way to use them. Besides, they were a relatively small group anyway, only 3,000 strong, so it's not like we couldn't divert some extra resources or something for them. They were more than worth the risk of keeping them around.

* * *

Palpatine POV

If the Master Chief wasn't proof enough that, even with such meticulous planning, things can still surprise you then Saleucami would have done the same. A single man's greed had resulted in the ultimate pacification tool for troublesome populations and all we had to do was find a way to reverse engineer it, I would have to make sure Halsey was leading the research personally. I think her current project was making some Pelican redesigns but Boll could do that, I wanted Halsey on this Feed drug, though the name would have to change.

Out of the two Halsey was leagues above Boll and we all knew it, that's actually part of the reason Boll became head of Section 3, other than to keep an eye on Halsey and limit her influence. Halsey would want to be able to develop and use this drug just as much as myself so I was confident if she was tasked with creating this drug then it would be done in less than a third of the time Boll would take, though it might still take a few years with all the set backs or other projects and the sheer difficulty in making a new drug, even with research. I had learned at least that much from my Masters experiments.

The next thing to consider was Bulq. His death had proven to be an excellent test for the Master Chief but they hadn't been meant to meet at all, so we didn't have any footage of the encounter, just a slightly clearer picture on what the Master Chief was capable of. With the death of Dooku's lieutenant the Master Chief, with some over time from Section 4, was becoming an even more high profile figure, I doubt there was a single being in the galaxy that didn't at least know his name. While it wasn't all good publicity, he was called the Demon by some after all, Section 4 had done an admiral job splicing together helmet footage of the two Battles of Geonosis to briefly highlight the horrors of the planet while also showing the Chief talking about how he didn't want to send any more of his men to their needless deaths when there was another option available, even if it would mean he was reviled. It was a great piece of footage that had done much into calming the Senates outrage at his actions, along with reducing the public backlash.

The Separatists, on the other hand, were now working themselves into a frenzy. One of their strongest warrior, and an important military commander, felled by the Master Chief, the man who would destroy planets if it suited his goals. So it was safe to say Separatists weren't in the best state at the moment.

Finally, there was this Mandalorian business to deal with. Dooku was already setting up his little Death Watch movement but, looking back on all of the information we have on the system, I was coming up with a different plan, though first I would need to see the Master Chief. For now, while people sort out the mess on Saleucami, I could arrange for some teams to perform their own report on this _troubling news_ about an _up and coming Separatist terrorist group_. That fool Satine would most likely object but, as a member of the Republic, she didn't have much grounds to object, especially when Death Watch were starting to become louder in their displeasure.

Just thinking about Satine and her little _Neutral Systems_ agreement made me sick. The fact that systems, from both the Republic and CIS, would declare themselves neutral in the war but still remain a part of either party was disgusting. They were leeches, all of them. If Satine thought she could use up Republic resources while doing nothing to help us achieve victory in this war and get away with it then she had another thing coming. When the Master Chief arrives I can put the finishing touches onto my plan but Satine had already done most of the work in digging her own grave, all I had to do was throw her into it. Let's see how long Mandalore remains pacifist when I'm through with her. I wanted to see her **break**.


	33. Chapter 33

Satine POV

I know it was extremely rude to ignore the others around the table but to say I hadn't been in the best of moods these past two weeks was a massive understatement.

First was the fact that I couldn't get in touch with Obi-Wan. It had me fuming for about three days straight until my helpful imagination said _hey, maybe the reason he's not calling is because he's dead_. Yeah… that helped immensely. For the next week my nerves had become increasingly frayed until Obi-Wan had **finally** gotten in touch. After a quick scan of his person, and noticing nothing wrong with him, I had launched into a whole rant about common courtesy and how he had none by not calling or telling me he would be out of touch. He took it with his usual Jedi calm, probably realising it was all just worry for him and I just needed to get it off my chest, before informing me he would be coming over tomorrow.

He didn't tell me about his guests.

Apparently the _Office of Naval Intelligence_ , the newest branch of Republic Intelligence that focuses on the war effort, had _found evidence_ of connections between the _terrorist_ group Death Watch and the Separatists. It was a blatant ploy by the Republic to interfere in the Neutral Systems Alliance. All the various members, be they from the Separatists, the Republic or even independent, knew we were seen with disdain for our choice to not involve ourselves in the war. This team sent by ONI was a blatant attempt to disrupt our neutrality and possibly break it. It was so obvious they hadn't even tried to hide it, what kind of name was _Section 0_ anyway, not a legitimate one for sure, and certainly not one I have ever heard of. Of course Obi-Wan tried to convince me of their legitimacy but he was under orders from the Chancellor to do as such so he couldn't be relied upon in this matter.

This Section 0 team were spies, meaning they were lairs of the highest order and couldn't be trusted. Death Watch were a group of vandalising hooligans yet they take credit for a bombing the _day_ these spies arrive. Not likely.

Then there was the fact they wanted to go to Concordia. I told them the moon was restricted and only authorised people with the required clearance could move to and from the moon, a fact that ensure it was impossible for Death Watch to have any sort of following on Concordia as their attacks had all been done on Mandalore, but they continued to insist. I continues to assure them that, as Death Watch couldn't get around the travel restrictions we put in place they couldn't be anything more than a bunch of unruly kids who learnt about them in history class or something and thought Death Watch were _cool_ or something.

When I told them this they started scribbling down on their pieces of paper, _paper_ , they weren't even trying at this point. I mean, who uses paper. Despite telling them how impossible it was for any without the necessary codes to travel to and from the moon, meaning Death Watch were based on Mandalore, they still insisted on getting authorisation to go there, which I refused. Then the leader whipped out a Senatorial Sanction which basically allowed them to order me to give them access. Once they had authorisation they left immediately, not even bothering to review all of the information my police force had compiled about Death Watch so far, they were so arrogantly confident they were right about Death Watch being based on Concordia they demeaned the hard work of dedicated and hardworking policemen.

Obi-Wan had tried to cheer me up, and it worked to an extent, but I just couldn't stop thinking about how the Republic was so dead set on ruining the hard work I had done to make Mandalore a peaceful planet.

After nearly a week, when I was just starting to relax and enjoy my time with Obi-Wan and having forgotten about this Section 0 nonsense, they returned. After handing back their passes they decided to head back and were dragging Obi-Wan with them. They even had the gall to deny my request to look at their findings, stating it was classified and that I didn't have the necessary security clearance to look at it. Oooohhh, I was mad.

It only took two days for the Chancellor to review the information and call for a vote on what action to take to deal with Death Watch, whether to send military action or not. With so little time I could only round up a few senators who were available to present our case to the Senate, so I was annoyed at that also. Also, the fact that senator Orn Free Taa was stuffing his face, in perhaps the most disgusting display of eating possible, didn't give me any desire to even try and make an effort to be nice.

* * *

Palpatine POV

Things seemed to be going well and, if everything fell into place, Mandalore will become a very important military asset to the Republic, and then my Empire. While it took a little bit of a scramble to get all the necessary information together Halsey had been more than willing to help. Everything, from finding information to stalling her investigation on Concordia, was done in an effort to make sure nothing was missed and we could fully capitalise on this golden opportunity. I had even suggested bringing in the Master Chief to speak at the hearing but Halsey suggested we use a more _sympathetic_ , read wounded, character that has also proven themselves capable, who isn't as controversial and will actually make an impassioned speech about his thoughts and feelings about the war, Mandalore and Death Watch.

Clone Captain Rex had also had his share of promotional material over the months, both as a trooper under Anakin and the Master Chief, courtesy of Section 4, making him a fine choice for this task. I had arranged a meeting between him, the Chief and myself to discuss the situation and to see if either was willing to speak in front of the Senate to try and help our case, luckily the Captain agreed.

I had met with the Captain several more times to try and get a feel for him as well, as to help plan out our case for the Senate. The Captain was an honourable man, one of the few left in the galaxy, who was willing to go to any extreme so long as the benefits outweighed the negatives, and if it was the _best option available_. This made him easy to manipulate.

Having seen much of the war it wasn't hard to convince the Captain that Death Watch would only bring pain to the people of Mandalore and that it should remain a Republic system, the tricky part was convincing him that Satine was only leading Mandalore to ruin.

Thankfully the Duchess had done most of the work for me. I had made mention how Satine calls those who follow the old ways of her people, people like the Captain, his brothers and even the Master Chief himself, warmongers and monsters. It was a gentle start, he was uncomfortable with the insult to his brother and idol but he was allowing the Duchess to have her opinion all the same.

Next I had to make mention of how she had restricted travel to Concordia due to there being _dangerous individuals_. Again, the Captain could see it from that angle even if he didn't agree with it, after all Death Watch was based on the moon so it made sense to limit travel even if he felt it should only be to a limited degree and the Duchess was going to an extreme. The real turning point was when I made mention that the Duchess believed Death Watch to be based on Mandalore and not Concordia, removing the only real explanation she had for restricting travel.

Then I explained how she had exiled all those who didn't wish to give up fighting and exiled them to Concordia in an attempt to create a peaceful Mandalore. I then mentioned how, due to its status as a colony world, Concordia was ruled directly by the Government of Mandalore. The rest of the planets in the system had their own governments that ran themselves but were under the direct leadership of the Government of Mandalore, sort of like how the different systems within the Republic rule themselves and can choose their own rules and laws so long as they follow the rules and laws set forth by the Senate and the Republic. This normally wouldn't be a problem but with the exile of all warriors to Concordia, to a colony world, they couldn't vote for Mandalores government.

This meant that only pacifists, or those too afraid to lose their homes so were pretending to be pacifists, voted on the government that ruled the entirety of the Mandalorian sector. Essentially the Duchess had rigged her own election by exiling her warriors. I could feel the hate the Captain had for the Duchess and it felt wonderful.

I fed his hatred of her and her regime by mentioning most of those exiled were once members who had fought for her in the recent Great Mandalorian Clan Wars and that her father was the Warlord who lead those who fought against Death Watch before his death. Adonai Kryze then past command to his daughter, as was his right, but his daughter, Satine, had not actually been involved in the war at all, instead she had been studying to be a politician while her people had fought and died for their liberty. Hearing of this the Captain was coming to despise the cowardice of the Duchess, I had purposely left out the fact that it was Adonai who sent Satine to become a politician and had ordered her to finish her studies rather than to return to her people because he wanted Mandalore to become more peaceful himself, even if he probably wouldn't go to the same extremes of pacifism.

The next point I brought up was the fact that her guards were also her police force, giving her complete control over what they did. The fact they had been trained as warriors and were allowed to live on Mandalore, despite being trained warriors, and the fact this gave Satine access to the only capable fighting force on the planet and one she used to enforce her will seemed to solidify the Captains opinion of her.

Obviously, if the Captain knew the reasons behind the Duchesses actions he would realise she was just a deluded idealist but I hadn't told him the reasons, just her actions themselves, which made her look like a dictator. Some would argue that a Mandalore was a dictator but, as I had pointed out to Rex, at least they couldn't manipulate the system to make it impossible to be taken out of power, an image I had twisted Satines actions into, so they couldn't _possibly_ be a dictator but were, instead, leaders of an autocratic democracy.

I had even likened myself to a Mandalore as I had the power to do what was needed, thanks to my Emergency Powers, but could still be voted out of office, something that was impossible to do to the Duchess as she had exiled all her outspoken detractors and silenced the others through the fear of losing their homes. It was the last twist of the knife and now, I had the perfect tool to break the Duchess.

* * *

Satine POV

Things had been going well. I had plead the case of the Mandalorian people, how we were trying to distance ourselves from our warrior past and were committed to a path of peace, and also mentioned how any military presence would break our status as a Neutral System, a direct violations of our right to Free Expression, and how such a show of force was overly dramatic due to Death Watch only being a small group of hooligans.

It was at this point I was sure the Chancellor, my _opponent_ in this debate, would interject, but he didn't. Normally in these types of debates your opponent could jump in with objections, counter statements or questions that were meant to discredit your statement or to destroy any momentum you are hoping to gain from your speech. The Chancellor had actually been very courteous and hadn't interrupted me which was actually quite worrying. If he had a well constructed counter speech that he was confident would derail mine then any attempt to interjects from myself would be more damning for me than him, as I would be seen as petty due to the fact the Chancellor had allowed me to finish my speech in it's entirety. That or his argument was weak and he didn't have anything to interject with, but that was unlikely.

A brief look around the room seemed to show I had garnered much favour for the support of Mandalore dealing with this minor problem on our own. Then the Chancellor opened his mouth and any hope I had left me.

'Honourable members of this illustrious Senate, we are here today to talk about a serious, Separatist funded, threat to a member of our Republic. Death Watch are not hooligans, as the Duchess would have you believe, but a true terrorist army.' With that a large hologram appeared in front of the senate floor and on our consoles. It looked to be an army staging ground but the soldiers were wearing traditional Mandalorian armour with the symbol of Death Watch painted on their armour. Perhaps most damning of all was the fact that droids were working alongside them.

'As you can see these are not hooligans, nor are they from Mandalore. This footage was recorded by an ONI investigative team on the Mandalorian moon of Concordia. While the Duchess may make claims that the Death Watch are a small group from Mandalore they are in fact an army from Concordia, a fact that ONI has suspected for months. Only a few months into the Clone Wars there were rumours from Concordia about Mandalorians calling for a new Mandalore, the traditional leader of the Mandalorian people, and so ONI sent a team to investigate. This team, in a single try and with no foreknowledge of the systems in place, circumvented the measures that are meant to limit travel to and from the moon, and similarly left the moon with as much effort. While on the moon they reported movement from several groups of Mandalorians, one of which was a group called Death Watch, who were unhappy with the current state of their government. The Duchess says it is impossible for them to have left Concordia, but if a team with no knowledge can do it what is stopping those who have had time to prepare.' They knew. That's why they didn't want to look at any of our findings and were so insistent to go to Concordia, they already knew where Death Watch was.

'The Duchess also says that her people voted for their current government, but I have evidence, to be shared with you today, that the vote that placed Duchess Satine into power was rigged.' No, I've heard enough of this. I may not care if I am slandered, but the fact that this statement demeans the intentions of my people, says they don't want peace despite working so hard for it, is diabolical.

'Objection, this is slander Chancellor. The people of Mandalore, no the whole sector, have made many strides towards peace. It is a goal they truly believe in and just because a small minority disagree doesn't invalidate the votes of the rest of them.'

'I did not say your people do not desire peace Duchess, they have made great strides in that regard. What I am saying is that you were elected to lead your people through a rigged system. Tell me Duchess did you not exile all those who once lived on Mandalore and would not renounce their warriors ways to Concordia?'

'I did…' He interrupted me.

'And did some of those not once fight for you in the Great Clan Wars of near 15 years past?'

'Well, yes but…'

'And did were they not exile before the votes were cast for the change in government?'

'They were..'

'And, as a colony world, do Concordian citizens have the right to vote for their government?' I froze. The whole room was quiet and not a sound could be heard. I didn't know what to do, I was left reeling. Had I rigged my own election?!

'Duchess, answer the question. Do Concordian citizen, the warriors of your people, have a right to vote for their leaders?'

'My intention was never…'

'I did not ask for your intentions, but for your actions. Did you intentionally restrict a certain group of people and deny them the right to vote?' My answer came as a whimper but it could still be heard by all.

'Yes.'

'I see. Tell me Duchess what type of colony is Concordia, it has been labelled as a settlement, not a penal colony, correct?'

'Yes.' No wonder he didn't need to interject, he had a shovel and a gun and was making me dig my own grave.

'Yet travel to and from the moon is restrict and only you can give authorisation for any individual to have said authorisation. Tell me, how many Concordian citizens have been given authorisation to travel off world in the past month?'

'None.' 1 foot.

'How many have applied for authorisation in the past month?'

'None.' 2 feet.

'Well then, the problem must all be sorted out, seeing how it isn't a penal colony everyone who wishes to leave must already have their passes. Tell me, how many authorised individuals actually live on Concordia?'

'Five.' 3 feet.

'Oh my. Their occupations?'

'They are ambassadors, representatives and members of the Government of Mandalore.' I'm just dig, dig, digging away. I might reach the planet's core at this rate. Prime Minister Vizsla was the man responsible for handing such documents to me to sign after he has finished reviewing them. It wasn't my responsibility so I never once thought about them, now that all this has been brought to light maybe I should have.

'I see. You may have had good intentions in your actions, creating a space where dreams of peace cannot be smothered by your peoples past, wishing to create a brighter future for your people and wanting to bring together others from all sides of this conflict together to prove that peace is possible, as seen through your Neutral System, but your implementation of those ideas are flawed. With that said, however, these actions were done before your joining of the Republic and so we cannot punish you for not following our laws at a time you were not beholden to them. I brought these problems to light today so that the Senate may make an informed decision with all the facts and so that you, Duchess, can bring equality to _all_ your people. With that said I will ask you one final question. Knowing what you know now, that people in your sector have been repressed and are unable to speak for themselves, that some are willing to speak out and criticise your rule and follow their own Mandalorian way, now knowing all of this, do you still believe that your people would deny Republic intervention? Even the warriors of Concordia?'

'I do. Maybe not for the same reasons but their answer will still be to deny Republic intervention, we are a proud people and will deal with this problem ourselves, as we have done in the past.' Even with all the flaws I had blinded myself to, even with all the oppression and suffering I had created, I truly believe that my people would deny Republic intervention.

'Well, it is not like we can ask a member of Concordia to hear their thoughts on the matter, but that does not mean we cannot hear the thoughts of a Mandalorian who follow his people's warrior ways. I would like to invite to the floor the Mandalorian Trooper, member of the 501st Legion and Clone Captain CT-7567, also known as Captain Rex.' What?! That two faced _rat_.

He pretended to act all sympathetic in order to make himself look benevolent, offering me a second chance, but in reality he had hidden a blade to thrust into me to finish me off when I accepted his helping hand rather than bow my head in submission. He had brought in one of his little _pet_ Mandalorians to finish me, and one of the worst ones at that.

I too had heard the stories of these Spartan Warriors and Mandalorian Clones but I knew, just like their trainer Jango Fett, they were only pretenders. Jango may have once been Mandalorian but after his and the True Mandalorians crimes of civilian massacres became know they had been labelled Dar'Mando, a title his clones and these Spartans shared. Only we couldn't call them that publicly as they were far too numerous and skilled, the two lightsabers hanging from the _Captain's_ belt was proof of that.

I had also heard the stories about the Hellish Legion and what they were willing to do, their current _crowning_ achievement being the complete annihilation of an _entire species_. And the Chancellor had brought in one of these despicable beings to argue the case of the unheard people of Concordia.

'I am afraid I must object. Not only is the _good Captain_ a clearly biased source but he is unfit to represent any of my people. Even at our most disgraceful Mandalorians have never sunk to the vile levels of the monsters that serve in the 501st. Their name, the Hellish Legion, was given to them for a reason. The fact that their commanding officer has been likened to the Devil himself is proof enough of how wretched these clone troopers are, not even Mandalore the Ultimate sank to their level.' No sooner had the Chancellor opened his mouth the clone interrupted.

'They told me to fight, and that's what I've done. Let historians sort through the wreckage, bodies and broken lives to figure out the rest.' A poor justification for his actions, actions that couldn't be justified at all and any attempt to do so was plain disgusting.

'Pretty words for a murder…'

'Those were the words of Preston Cole, 694 ATC, or After the Treaty of Coruscant for those who forgot. You know who Preston Cole was, don't you Duchess, his name is still taught to Mandalorian children is it not? In case his name has been forgotten then allow me to give a brief history of who he was and what he's done.

'He was the Mandalorian Naval commander who single handedly saved our people from extermination by all of the worlds that had once been conquered by Mandalore the Ultimate. See, we garnered a lot of hatred over the years and, after nearly a thousand years, people had enough and it became open season on Mandalorians. Eventually we had all been cornered and confined to what is now known as the Mandalorian Sector, so named as it is the last remnants of our peoples conquests. Preston Cole, or Mandalore the Survivor as he was known at the time, single handedly saved the Mandalorian people. And he didn't do it by being nice. The act he is, perhaps, most known for is the order he gave to send hundreds of nuclear warheads to wipe out our enemies. Enemies that were currently on the surface of Mandalore.' You could hear the quiet mutterings around the room and I knew he was turning them against me. I hadn't spent much time learning the history of my people, instead focusing on politics and figuring out our future. So no, I didn't know Preston Cole, or his achievements.

'Preston Cole, the saviour of our people, and the man lauded as the greatest Mandalorian Naval commander destroyed our home. It was the greatest sin any Mandalorian could commit yet he did it all the same because he saw it as the only option to save his people.

'My commander, the Master Chief, will gladly become the Devil himself if it means he can save the Republic, can save _our people_. He, like Cole, will go to any length, any extreme, to deliver victory.' The Chancellor spoke up again, finishing this whole thing off.

'Captain Rex, you would call yourself a Mandalorian correct?'

'Yes sir, I would. I follow the Resol'nare, the 6 tenets of our people, like all Mandalorians do.'

'And why do you fight for the Republic?'

'Because I believe that saving the Republic will save my people. Right now Mandalore is too weak to stand on its own, so must be a part of either the Republic or the Separatists, and, as a man who has fought on the front lines, I have seen how the Separatists treat others, the horrors they are willing to commit. Until Mandalore can once again stand on its own I will always prefer the freedom of the Republic over the tyranny of the Separatists.' I chimed in.

'Tyranny?! How so? I have met with many Separatist world that eventually joined the Neutral Systems Alliance and I would never have thought of them as tyrants.'

'I am sure people would have once said the same about you, no?!' Ugh, well played clone.

'At least I didn't wipe out an entire race and destroy their planet beyond all hope of recovery.'

'Have you ever been, Duchess? To Geonosis I mean, because I have. I've actually been twice, so out of the two of us I think I know what decision was best to deal with them, no?!

'See, people call war Hell, but they're wrong. War is filled with horror and suffering sure, but it isn't Hell, that right is reserved for Geonosis. Do you know how they reproduce Duchess? They lay eggs. Only thing is the eggs need to be incubated, and apparently, clone troopers made the best incubators. I watched as my friend was slowly eat away at from the inside out ,until his guts were so chewed up he coughed up a Geonosian grub, I watched as they eat away at his eyes until they exploded and grubs started crawling out of his eye sockets.

'And it wasn't just the living they desecrated beyond belief, they did it to the dead too. There was this worm the Geonosians used to control the living and the dead. It was a parasite that would wiggle into your brain and force you to do what it wanted to. I don't know how many of my own brother, dead and alive, I had to shoot to spare them from the Geonosians, to give my poor brothers some sense of mercy.

'So you tell me Duchess, which of us was more humane? Was it the Geonosians, who had no sanctity for either the living or the dead, or was it the 501st, who at least didn't go to the planet's surface to torture the Geonosian to death, like I know many of us wanted to?

'Sure you can argue that they had surrendered, but they had done that once before, and reports were coming in that they were gearing up to fight again. This left the Chief with a decision, either we fight on the surface once more and face those horrors again, or destroy the planet and save many a trooper from experiencing the same fate as others. I can tell you now that not a single trooper who fought in either battle will criticise the Chief for what he did.

'That is why I will support Republic intervention. Mandalore is too weak to defend itself and I know how far the Separatist are willing to go. I've seen them rig bombs to civilians just to slow our advance, I've seen them use chemical weapons that slowly burn a person to death in agonising pain and I've seen them tear apart any living being at an atomic level. Mandalore cannot defend itself right now, it needs the Republic to defend it until it can do so itself.' The cheers that erupted were deafening. The trooper hadn't been the final nail in my coffin, he had been the coffin. Someone who had seen both sides of the conflict, the governments that I support and the Death Watch support, and can give their point of view on which is better. He was also _Mandalorian_ , at least in the eyes of the Senate, which gave him a platform to speak on in the defence of my people.

Though it seems that, despite having dug my own grave and the clone having sealed my coffin, I wasn't without some hope.

Senator Amidala had been a dear friend for some time and I knew that she too opposed the war. So when she asked to take the floor I final had hope that my people would be able to deal with this problem themselves. I was partially right.

Senator Amidala started first by saying she was once in a position similar to my own, except she faced a greater threat, one that occupied her entire planet. When she came before the Senate she requested military aid but was denied, having been told the conflict was too small for the Republic to involve themselves with it, so she instead raised an army on her homeworld and won. The Chancellor countered by saying it was due to the small nature of the military at the time that meant the request was denied, as there were bigger conflicts that needed intervention. While Padme agreed she also reminded the Chancellor that, in the end, Republic assistance was unneeded.

Then she offered an alternative. Instead of leaving Mandalore to fend for itself or sending a full military force to the planet, and all the problems that would bring, Padme suggested the Republic only send some officers and trainers to help Mandalore recreate its Army and Navy. If Concordians were so firm in their belief then they should be allowed to express that belief and fight to save their home. While it wasn't what I had wanted I knew it was the more reasonable of all the options available.

The Chancellor called a recess until tomorrow, we were to use this time to _review all the facts presented to us and would allow us to make an informed decision when we resumed_.

When it finally came I saw Padme's third option on the ballot. No matter how much I wished for no Republic intervention at all I knew this was the better option, and that this option would need every vote it could get. For once, I swallowed my pride and chose option 3.


	34. Chapter 34

Tohm POV

It was beautiful. Sure it was a horrible set of circumstances that created it but it was beautiful all the same, not that many would agree with me. My classmates never seemed to share the same appreciation I had for war, but then I didn't need them too. I found it so fascinating and insightful, the length people were willing to go, the acts they were willing to commit and the results of said actions. While others saw an irradiated wasteland I saw the pure white ash as a sign that victory will always be possible and that nothing will truly be the end until you stop trying. It was something I had tried to live by.

For example, I wanted to be like Preston Cole or the Master Chief and be remembered as a hero would did everything to save those he was charged with protecting. And my injuries weren't going to stop me, even if I was self conscious of my image. Burns and blindness on one side of the face, and missing an arm as well, were all reasons I didn't like going out much, because I know could feel the stares. So, I sequestered myself in my room and studied all I could get my hands on about warfare rather than go out and socialise. I know I said that you can do anything if you try but I did also say those were words I was _trying_ to live by. Still, I wanted so much out of life and I wasn't willing to stop trying until I got what I wanted, even with my injuries, because I knew I could overcome them, just like Captain Rex.

We don't know who did it, there was supposed to be this massive ONI instigation into it all, but someone had hacked the Senate and released footage of the vote for military action on Mandalore. It was a private meeting but it was still recorded by the Senate for various reasons and it had been leaked to the public.

Ever since Ciutric I have been keeping a lookout for any information involving the Master Chief and the 501st. My time with them had been some of the best times of my life, despite what happened just before I met them, and as soon as the Senate meeting was available on the holonet I immediately downloaded it, I know it will be take down soon enough but I wanted to watch it again. It was actually because of that video that I could stand on the spaceport of Sundari and look upon Preston Coles lasting legacy, the final act that saved his people.

Ever since the footage was made public there were protests in the streets, a common thing on Coruscant, I've been told, since the start of the war. The difference this time they were protesting for more military action, not less.

With the footage being leaked the Chancellor had officially released the results of the vote which was for military officials to train a Mandalorian army. In return, a small detachment of soldiers would be stationed on the planet until the first recruits had graduated from an accelerated 6 month training course. Also, as we were going to be training their soldiers the Chancellor had asked if the Mandalorians could help to train some of the Republics trainee officers, of which I had just made the shortlist. I was, in fact, the only first year student who had gotten on the list which prompted more than a little back lash from my peers. Thankfully, now I was on Mandalore and they were on Coruscant, and while they are stuck learning from classroom lessons, I will be getting hands on experience in leading real soldiers in drill and I will be learning under some of the greatest Naval commanders in recent memory, like Lord Admiral Hood and Captain Jacob Keyes. It was like a dream come true, and all because of the efforts of the, Master Chief and Captain Rex.

* * *

Halsey POV

'It seems our faith was not misplaced.' I was currently in talks with Kraath Jennis, the Mandalorian Ordo and his brothers met back on Concordia. I had been keeping in touch with him and his group to get a better handle of the situation on the moon and, so far, things looked promising. While Death Watch had been recruiting more and more, so had Jennis. There seemed to be a genuine divide in the people who would support Death Watch, who would join this new Mandalorian army that was being raised and the small few who wouldn't join either side, but most supported the new military. There was still a lot of resentment over what Death Watch had done the past two times they brought war to our people so it wasn't too surprising.

I hadn't actually been calling to talk about the new recruitment drive on Mandalore, instead I wanted to talk about preparing for John's eventual declaration. First we need to drum up more support for the remilitarisation of the Mandalorian sector as a whole, and second, we need to place supporters in key places within that new military who will support John when he declares himself Mandalore. Then there was the fact John himself wasn't yet ready, but I was working on that one.

Normally it would be the Clan Alors, the leaders, who would make or break a Mandalore but with John having the backing of the clones and the Mandalorian military they wouldn't risk going against him, that and the fact Rex's little speech seemed to shine a more positive light on John's more controversial actions, especially within the Mandalorian sector itself. Releasing that video had worked beautifully.

Oh sure, the Chancellor had been furious about it, not that he knew it was me but I suspect he at least considered me a possible suspect even if one of the least likely ones, but he was more angry that less and less people were using John's new titles of Demon and Devil to revile him, instead they were used to laud him. A title enemies feared and allies rallied behind.

The Chancellor wanted an iron fist, too bad, John was a shield, a Shield of Mandalore, his duties were to his people first and the Republic second.

Another great bit of video we found was some helmet came footage of John on the moons of Ciutric IV. A trooper had watched John get knocked back by an explosion, get up and cover some civilian kid and then proceed to punch a group of Dwarf Spiders to pieces. Section 4 was working it into something usable for a promotional propaganda campaign. It would be a twin piece that with the good Captain but would focus on John and the 501st as a whole. The main focus on this campaign was to show off their kindness and their skill but to do it in a way that didn't make them relatable. We instead wanted to make them seem like heroes from a story, people to look up to and revere as something more than human.

To help increase his profile with the clones I had messed with the Field Trip list a little. The Field Trip was a little nickname the clone troopers had come up with for the tours we put on for the younger clones. We rotated which legions would be giving a tour and I had jiggled the names around to have John at the top. Granted it was up to the Chancellor to decide in the end if those at the top of the list were available for said duty but I suspected he wouldn't have a problem showing John off a bit more. Like I said, he wasn't angry with the increased attention John was getting he was angry because John's image was turning into a Shield to rally behind rather than a Fist to fear.

Now I was reviewing the first report from Green Team about the situation on Mandalore. I had sent them, alongside Jedi General Plo Koon and a detachment of his Spartan 3's, the Wolf Pack, as they already had great success with teaching the Spartan 3's. With the sudden influx of Spartan 3's within the ranks we had too many for just ONI use so divisions were made and distributed across the many Legions around the galaxy. Wolf Pack were part of the Alpha phase of 3's, before we started to refine the process, and were about the same standard as the Null troopers. While subsequent iterations of the 3's lowered the risks the augments had to subjects it also reduced the enhancements. The Wolf Pack, like all the 3's, had been trained by Kurt and Lucy of Green Team so it was only a plus to have the them with the trainers they respect so much.

Master Plo was sent along as a mediator between the Spartans of Green Team and the Mandalorian government. The current arrangement was for Kurt and Lucy to train the fighters, such as the regular soldiers and fighter pilots, while Terrence Hood and Jacob Keyes would train the officers, both army and naval.

The Wolf Pack detachment were officially there to act as a temporary military force in case Death Watch attacked before the recruits had finished training. Unofficially, they were there to keep Satine in power and to keep her in line. The Chancellor and I agreed it was best to keep her in power for now.

Sure, we both said it was because we didn't want to handle an election at the same time we already had to overhaul the Mandalorian military but we both knew it was because people already disliked her and it would be easy to replace her when the time came. A time we were both eagerly awaiting.

* * *

Hood POV

'We have a long road ahead of us.' Jacob had been silent as I watched over Sundari, only speaking now he had been addressed.

'We both knew peace would never last.' I sighed, he was right. But then, isn't that why we stayed by Satines side, to be ready for when war came again?

'But were we wrong to hope?' He didn't answer, probably we were. By hoping for peace we had failed to prepare for what came next, and now our old enemy had risen once again, though we were taking steps to correct our oversight. It hadn't even been two days since the vote had passed but already every factory on Mandalore producing non-essentials were converted to war production. Even when we were peaceful we were still Mandalorians, we were still prepared. The only real problem was what we were producing. Due to the fact we had neglected war we were having to make do using a few outdated designs for ships, thankfully several Mandalorian run weapons, armour and fighter manufacturers were still in business and had been designing better products despite this period of peace. The designs for the larger ships we were using hadn't been used since the last Great Clan Wars but we had adapted them with modern weapons and armour, just the designs were a little impractical.

The main problem was public opinion and relations. While many were willing to join the new military force we were creating, very few were comfortable with Duchess Satine leading it. The Clan Alors had actual voted for a war council to be made of all House Alors as well as myself, despite Clan Hood not being a House. The only problem with this was the fact that the Clan Alors technically no longer held any power to do something like this.

Before Satine and her government reforms Mandalore was ruled by a tier system. At the bottom was an individual, they ruled themselves and their own actions. An individual belonged to a family and families worked together for the betterment of the family as a whole, usually focusing on the betterment of the children first. Families belonged to Clans. One person from within the Clan was chosen to lead the Clan by all other members within the Clan and that Alor was given a seat on the Clan Council. This Council had a fair bit of power and voted on general laws and decisions they wanted to implement which were then brought to the House Council and then, if it passed there, it could be brought to the Mandalore. The Clan Council also decided how to implement and rules or laws given by the House Council or the Mandalore themselves.

Now, each Clan also belonged to a House. A House was just another Clan that just ruled over a large piece of land, every Clan on that piece of land was under the leadership of the House Alor, who also had a seat on the House Council. In times without a Mandalore it was the House Council that ran the show and made the final decisions in passing laws. During times with a Mandalore they were the ones who decided whether or not to implement the petty laws decided by the Clan Council or whether it should be reviewed by the Mandalore.

When there was a Mandalore present the Mandalore could, in turn, give laws for the House Council. It would then be up to the House Council to decide how to implement the orders of the Mandalore, as they would have to do anything the Mandalore said. The system had been designed so that if one tier ever grew corrupt then the tier underneath could change it at a moment's notice.

For example, if a Mandalore grew corrupt and ordered the House Council to implement a set of corrupt laws then they could vote out the Mandalore. If the House Council was corrupt then the Clan Council could vote for new members from the same House. If, after 3 attempts, an uncorrupt member of the House could not be found then the Clans who were under that Houses rule could vote for a new Clan to rise to House status. This was to ensure that the Ruling House always had the interests of its Clans in mind. If it was the Clan Council that was corrupt the families would vote for new members to represent them.

All of this was done to prevent the spread of corruption. It gave power to a few people so that bureaucratic red tape could be bypassed but also made sure those with power looked out for those underneath them or they would risk losing that power. While it wasn't a perfect system it worked a lot better at rooting out corruption then a regular democracy. As the Duchess was finding out.

While she had accepted the decisions of the Clans and drafted up a bill to allow the House Alors and myself, the past and current Lord Admiral of the Mandalorian Fleet, to form the war council it had fallen flat the moment it was sent to the democratic officials that had been elected to Satines new democratic government. It seems they weren't ready to give up their power just yet, especially now they could potentially have control of this new military as well.

After finding out about the corruption in her own government the Duchess had worked to restoring the House and Clan Councils. Obviously the bill the Duchess, who was the head of House Kryze, had set forth to do this was also blocked, as many of her officials weren't Clan or House Alors, but that didn't stop Satine, who was using the Mandalorian police force to arrest many of her democratic officials on charges of corruption. These arrests and investigations where even starting to bring up disturbing implications about the current state of the Mandalorian black market and why it had grown as large as it had. Only two day and everything had been turned on its head.

To distract myself I took a look at the list in my hand, two days and over 100,000 applicants, we had our work cut out for ourselves, I was even thinking of asking for aid from these Wolf Pack troopers in order to boost the amount of recruits we could train but we were fine, for now, with taking on the initial 75,000. And these Spartans seemed to know what they were doing, apparently already having had some experience training others if Halsey was to be believed.

And that was another thing wasn't it, Halsey. Jacob had seemed to hold himself well enough but I could see he was holding himself back from asking how Cortana was, but that was just because he didn't want to talk about Miranda. After Satine shut down the Naval Academy nearly 7 years ago, when Miranda was about 10, the young girl hadn't taken it well. She took after her mother a bit more than she realised and had Halsey's stubbornness. Miranda was dead set on learning how to become a Naval officer of renown just like her father and so had twisted Jacobs arm until he got the girl a pass to go to Concordia. Most would think that 10 years old was a little too young for someone to be so independent but Mandalorians took 9 year olds onto battlefields if they were ready, so 10 was a reasonable age for independence.

The girl was to stay with House Viszla and as a personal guest of Pre, the minister for Concordia, and still kept in touch with her father but had grown more distant over the years. The girl still loved him, to be sure, but I don't think she forgave him for supporting a woman who had closed down her beloved academy. Miranda had been offered a chance to join the academy on Coruscant but that required a person to at least be 14 years old before they could join and she wasn't willing to wait. Apparently she had been taking lessons from some of mine and Jacob's old war buddies who ended up exiled to the moon rather than give it all up.

Still, Halsey had asked all the same and Jacob told her the truth, that he hadn't seen his daughter in person in over two years. Obviously she wasn't too pleased but she seemed to understand well enough and instead talked about Cortana and how she had been doing over the years. I left at that point to give them some privacy to talk. I ended up here, on this balcony, and Jacob had joined me when he had finished, only saying something after I had gathered my thoughts.

We had a tough job ahead of us but I think we had a promising future on the horizon.

* * *

Palpatine POV

Currently I was having another lesson with Anakin but, again, he was barely putting any effort into it. Having finally had enough I asked him what was wrong, making sure to turn my Concerned Elder routine to full. After a little bit of gentle prodding he admitted he was having troubles with Senator Amidala. Force save me.

While I sat and listened to his troubles and woes I couldn't help but contemplate killing myself, though I quickly dismissed that and contemplated just killing Anakin. God this was pathetic. Oh boo hoo, she called me a Monster and now won't let me get into her pants. Someone end this _whining_. Then he looked like at me like I kicked his pet or something and started to ask why I promoted the Master Chief again and allowed him to have all the _new toys_. I get that Anakin didn't have much of a childhood but you would think it would have forced him to grow up faster not extend his childishness into adulthood. Anything would be better than listening to any more of this revolting pity party.

Unfortunately I had invested too much time into Anakin to let him go now. Taking the time to go over Anakin's complaints I realised the only way I would remove these doubts he had was to isolate him from anyone that would teach him what he was doing was wrong and instead surround him with people who would promote his more destructive tendencies. After all, I still needed my Iron Fist.

I had given up on Anakin before in favour of the Master Chief but recent events were making him into the hero Anakin once was, so instead it was time to change the roles. Anakin was once called the Hero without Fear but that was being heard less and less as of late with the vast amounts of propaganda being pumped out by Section 4 that promoted the Master Chief. I had made a mistake with the Master Chief by limiting his ruthlessness, telling him to be careful when to not go to any extremes unless necessary, and he had turned from Destroyer to Saviour quickly. So now I needed to correct that mistake and make Anakin willing to go to any extreme even when it wasn't necessary. He even had a head start if his story about the Tusken Raiders on Tatooine was true.

The first thing to do was to limit his exposure to _adverse_ influences, like Kenobi or Amidala. I _confided_ in Anakin that perhaps Amidala was just using him. Obviously he jumped to her defence but I started to needle away at his doubts and make them rise to the surface.

I mentioned how it seemed Amidala may just have a _thing_ for Jedi as she had been spending an increasing amount of time with Kenobi. Then I mentioned how Kenobi was closer in age to her and the fact, from what I could gather from Anakin's stories, she only showed interest in poor little Anakin when he saved her, when he became a hero. Again, on Geonosis she only showed her interest in Anakin when he had tried to save the senator and Kenobi. My final point was that she only showed disinterest in Anakin when he was no longer the hero, but instead acting like a good soldier. Obviously these were all observations made by twisting the facts but they did what they were supposed to, bring up Anakin's doubts about his wife and her faithfulness. The final point, that really brought his fears to the surface, was when I mentioned that Kenobi had a relationship with Duchess Satine in the past, and it was suspected to have continued to this day. If Kenobi was willing to break his vows as a Jedi so readily was it really too much of a stretch to believe he wouldn't honour the vows of a marriage or sleep with another woman.

I could _feel_ the fear and uncertainty roll of Anakin in waves. He tried to block all my words out by increasing his focus on his lessons but I knew I was in his head. After all, I had used the Force to let myself in.

He didn't even question where I got all my supposed information from. I got them from his mind. I hadn't actually based anything of any real facts but instead I articulated Anakin's secret fears and suspicions into a well constructed set of words that I presented as fact. I was using his own fears against him.

After several hours of study, with a significant increase in success, Anakin finally asked me what he should do.

'Well, it's not exactly a nice thing to do, but if I were in a situation such as yours I would try to get my own back. If Padme wants to sleep around with others, your best friend at that, then I would sleep around too. She never respected you Anakin, why should you respect her?! Have a little fun, I know I did at your age, don't tie yourself down waiting for a person who doesn't care for you.

'Besides, it's not like you'll be doing anything worse than either of them. Kenobi and yourself have already broken the Code on attachments and Padme has already broken her wedding vows so it won't be like you're worse than them. You'll just be getting even, isn't that only fair?' If Anakin was going to act like some love struck prepubescent boy I was sure as hell going to treat him like one.

He quickly dismissed the idea but I knew he had taken it on board. He might not immediately go out and find some cheap whore to have sex with but the idea will look more and more appealing to him as he starts to doubt his wife and best friend more. His hard headed and reckless nature will do the rest. When we moved onto the more practical lessons I would instil some maturity into him but for now I would allow him to have his reckless fun, whether that's jumping out of speeders, rushing into battle or sleeping around a bit, as it would only increase the divide between him and everyone else but me, the kind and understanding father figure.

To distract himself from the thoughts of his own petty revenge he again inquired about the Master Chief, his promotion and the fact that the 501st was getting the latest weapons and armour. It was good to see him getting jealous again despite having made nice with the Chief. I said he hadn't been focusing recently and was distracted a lot, a fact I know knew to be because of his relationship troubles, so I didn't want to put any more pressure on him. Besides, I needed someone absolutely ruthless that would be able to rigorously test the weapons and armour.

'I'm actually planning on selecting another Legion to help bring in more test results, but I need someone who is willing to do anything, anything at all, to test it for me. I had actually been considering Admiral Tarkin.' Of course Anakin asked who Tarkin was so I told him a little about the man and suggested perhaps the two should meet, Krayt was lacking an official Naval Commander after all.

'But I am only going to give the next set to those willing to go the extra mile, those willing to slaughter those that deserve it, like the Geonosians or other savages, for example, Tusken Raiders. It needs to be put through its paces after all.' I gave him a little eyebrow raise. It took him a little second to realise what I meant but the sinister grin that spread across his face, and the promise that he wouldn't disappoint, left me giving Anakin the promise to introduce him and Tarkin before their next assignment. Now everything was finished I let him leave.

Despite all the differences and changes that have happened I cannot say I am unhappy with the current state of affairs. The clones are becoming more and more worthwhile every day as they grow in experience. The Jedi are none the wiser and seem to be building close relations with the clones so won't suspect them to betray them. I have found a very promising candidate for leader of my military when the time comes and I have made steps to bringing in my newest apprentice. All in all, despite the changes and things that didn't go quite to plan, everything has worked out well. And soon, the Separatist will have outlived their usefulness and my Empire will come into being.


	35. Chapter 35

John POV

Currently my fleet and I were stationed in the Vanqor system and where playing host to the next list of troopers on their Field Trip. The Chancellor said it was to show off the new armour that was now slowly being fazed into action but I had my doubts. Not that it really mattered anyway as the children were here. The cadets were all 6 chronological, 12 biological, years old and were now over halfway through their training. We gave these little tours every so often to show them that everything, no matter how boring or tedious, like standing at attention, was used throughout their entire time in the military. The boys had only just arrived and were scheduled for a week's stay under the care of myself and General Windu, the other overseer of this little trip. Normally only one fleet would be chosen for this but the Chancellor wanted the 501st to be on standby in case we were needed somewhere else and the 187th would take over the rest of the tour. If nothing was to happen then I wouldn't doubt that the Chancellor might deploy us together in a new theatre.

Cortana had just reported that the boys were entering final docking procedures and suggested I go down to meet them.

'Just go and show your face, well… your helmet at least. Say something motivational or inspirational and then pawn the little rascals off to Rex or something.'

'Anything else? Perhaps you have a hoop somewhere I can jump through?' Cortana slowly turned her chair to face me.

'You have been getting very lippy recently. If I were you I would keep that wagging tongue inside my head.'

'You didn't mind to much last night.' Cortana threw together a scandalised look and I quickly left the bridge, basking in my moment of triumph and not hanging around to let her come up with a witty retort. It might be my only point in this verbal game of back and forth but I was going to savour this victory. I think I was getting the hang of this double speak and innuendos.

I started to make my way down to meet with the tour, which was heading to one of the turbo cannon platforms. Rex had set up a little skeet shooting scenario for them to have a go at to try and keep them entertained, he had also arranged some obstacle courses and rides with some of the Cobras, Sabers, etc. that would be dotted throughout the week. One day was reserved for a little obstacle course where the boys will ride as copilots in a ARC wing and fire at a few more skeet target and another day was reserved for some time on Vanqor and some hunting lessons, where they will be broken into groups of four with four troopers and go out hunting Gundarks. It was a _little_ different to the recommended schedule I gave to Rex to implement but it seemed more fun, and Rex seemed to really enjoying planning it all out, so I let it be.

Upon entering the Turbo platform I saw Rex giving a little talk about the Turbo lasers and their use in battle. As he was finishing up Rex gave a nod to the gunner who fired off a set of skeets and, with practised precision, the gunner hit every skeet immediately, not missing a shot. With the demonstration over the gunner got up from their seat and offered it to one of the boys. After a second to readjust himself the boy launched a skeet and fired in short burst, unfortunately missing. Asking for a second go Rex denied the young cadet, saying if you miss on the battlefield you'll end up dead, and brought up the next one.

This boy seemed to take on board what Rex was saying and decided a full spray would increase his chances. After missing everything Rex decided to impart a little bit more wisdom onto the boy's, a full spray of has its time and place, in a crowd, but it's better to use short bursts in one on one as it's more accurate. The third boy was up and did better than the rest, getting extremely close, but still missed. The last boy was a real turn around.

One shot one hit, not even using a burst shot, so Rex decided to bring up the trooper training skeet formation we used to test our new gunners, a simple 3 skeet squadron in tight formation. Again, one shot one hit on all targets. Something was up. A cadet this good would have been picked up immediately for one of the Spec Ops branches and put into one of the Spec Ops cohorts for the younger recruits, probably Commandos or ODSt's, before eventually being reassigned to the 3's.

'Impressive.' The boys whipped around to me quickly and snapped into a salute, though our top shooter seemed to need to take his cues from his brothers and even then it was sloppy. I gave the boys their salute and turned to Rex who was unsurprised at my entrance, having gotten used to my quiet steps to recognise when I entered the room. I sent the cadets and their caretaker on ahead to the hangar for their next tour stop while I had a word with Rex.

'Impressive shooting for a cadet.' Rex gave me a nod.

'They call him Lucky.

'That's not luck.'

'So you agree then, he's a plant. Separatist?'

'No. Spaarti cloning creates clones with more growth but less experience. I believe _Lucky_ is the opposite, less growth, more experience.' Rex looked alarmed.

'You mean…? But why?' I took a second to think about it but couldn't come up with a definite answer, just a bunch of theories.

'I don't know. For now do nothing, let's see what he's after.' With that Rex was off to the hangar while I moved back up to the bridge.

This seemed to be a new recurring theme for the 501st, even the simplest of assignments can't stay simple.

* * *

Boba POV

Shit.

After seeing the troopers with new armour I knew something had gone wrong, but I didn't realise how wrong until _he_ showed up. Those fake Mandalorians were all over the galaxy, with the way people talked about them you couldn't get away from them, and I was getting sick of it, but _he_ was the worst of them. Or at least that's what dad used to say.

Originally dad had been all for the Spartans, as soldiers, but he never really recognised them as Mandalorians, just like the clones actually, As time went on he grew more critical of the group before eventually being pulled from training them. That didn't exactly help.

To be honest I didn't think too highly of them, but I didn't hate them either. They confused me, _he_ confused me. Like everyone else on Kamino at the time, I heard of his near victory again Jedi Master Windu, which only made it harder when I say how well dad did. He was supposed to have been the best, _I_ was supposed to be the best, eventually, but watching his death against a Jedi I knew could be defeated was hard. He wasn't all I thought he was after all.

Still I had a job to do. I knew Windu could be killed and so I was going to do. All I had to do was find him.

Teaming up with Aurra had its ups and downs. First was the fact I suspected she was just using me to get some easy jobs while her wounds healed, though that had happened some months ago it still acted up from time to time. It could also have been she was trying to curry favour with me and leave me indebted to her. Either way, she was helping me, even if sometimes I didn't agree all the actions she took.

Currently we were searching for Jedi Master Windu to get revenge for my father and so we had been on the lookout for any information on him whatsoever. First, one of Aurra's informants told us how Windu was going to be stationed over Vanqor, then we found out the cadet Field Trip would be taking place in the Vanqor system and added two and two together. Evidently we missed some factors from our equation as the answer was most definitely not four.

I had snuck away from the rest of the group and was using a stolen Venator blueprint to move towards the nearest holotable, as it would be hooked up to the mainframe. If I could get to the table I could splice myself into the system and locate the current data on the Vanqor fleet. This would then allow me to locate Windu's fleet and which one was his flagship. I had already contacted Aurra about our little problem and she had advised caution, well duh.

I may never have trained with them but I had watched dad train some of the clones. One of the main ones I remember was actually the layout of clone patrols on a ship, I was confident I could slip past them. When I slipped round the next corner I bumped into a set of blue and white legs attached to a clone trooper. It seems they may have changed the patrol routes. After stumbling out an excuse of how I was told to use the holotable to deliver a message to Master Windu one of the troopers in question just nodded at me before taking me back to the hangar. Upon entry the rest of the boys all looked a little angry at me, like I cared, possibly because of the telling off they would be having thanks to me. After the trooper told the Captain what had happened the man just turned to me, his cybernetic eye zooming in, out and refocusing. I think the eye was more unnerving thanks to the fact it was the exact same penetrating stare dad would give me sometimes, minus the cybernetic eye.

After a long hard second the Captain just told me not to worry, once he found the trooper who had pawned his duties off onto a cadet they would be sorry. I felt my shoulders sag at that, I wasn't out of the woods yet but at least I hadn't been caught.

* * *

Rex POV

For all his training he was still a kid. The little sag in his shoulders when an adult believes a kids lie was still present despite his experience. So now it was confirmed, Boba Fett was looking for General Windu, the fact he used Master instead of General, like every trained clone trooper would call a Jedi, only furthered proved who he was.

I quickly flagged down Hevy and had him run a message up to the Chief for me. _Lucky_ was looking for _Master_ Windu. I made sure Hevy said it in those exact words with the same exact inflections, just so the Chief got the message.

Once Hevy ran off I started showing the boys the new Cobra and Saber tanks, letting them ride them sit inside the tanks, watching as they pretended to drive or be a tank crew. Jax had taken position as the communications officer, he looked to be the mediator between his friends and young Boba so I suppose it fit. Jax's friend Hotshot immediately claimed the Cobras cannon for himself, he looked to be a boy who liked to watch things go boom, and Whiplash took the driver's seat, he looked a lot more than just comfortable in that seat despite the awkward position of his feet and the pedals. The only position left was the commander, and that was left for Boba. He looked a little uncomfortable playing with the other boys, probably because he hadn't ever really played with anyone before but he took to it quickly.

That had hit me from out of nowhere, but it was true. Boba had always been kept separate from the rest of the clones and reports indicate he immediately became a bounty hunter working with different mercenaries. I think this was the first time he ever got to play around and that hurt a bit. I asked Whiplash if he knew how to drive this thing and he said he _thinks so_. I gave the boy a nod and closed the hatch. Activating the tanks comms I ordered Boba to take his men and his crew through the obstacle course ahead of him.

I had set up this course as a speeder course for the boys to race each other on, but that was a more competitive activity. Boba needed to interact with others his own age and work with them in a little play exercise. I probably shouldn't be using a Cobra tank for a little bit of child therapy but what ever works.

I was giving orders to Boba on where to go and what to do and he had to relay that to his crew. I gave out fake targets for them to aim at, told them to hunker and redeploy, a thankfully easy task thanks to the clearly marked hunker and redeploy buttons, and gave them movement orders. The other boys seemed to be just as excited to try it out for themselves so I had them mount up in a different tank as I brought Bobas team back in. I sent out the second group while also directing Boba's Cobra back into the vehicle bay. As they four jumped out I could see the smiles on all their faces, even Boba, which brought a smile to my own.

* * *

Boba POV

It had been a fun day. So fun I had forgotten about Windu and Aurra, which is why I was dreading to call her now, even more so when I took a look at my call log and could see the amount of times she had tried to call. Swallowing my fear I activated my comm.

'What took you?' To be honest I think the fact she didn't look angry was worse than if she did.

'There were complications. The caught me on the way to the communications centre and grew suspicious. I had to keep a low profile all day, now's the only time I could get alone.' They had given us each one of the officers quarters. Apparently the Master Chief didn't like to do what most in the GAR did and group all his officers onto the same ship. This would usually be the Venator as they had more armour and could easily be protected by the Acclamator's. Having your important officials in one place made it easy to protect them but made you a more valuable target. It seems, with the amount of empty officers quarters, the Master Chief prefered to keep the officers with their divisions on the different ships.

'What do you know?' I had been talking with the Captain throughout the day, asking questions and finding out all I could. In one of our conversations I asked about Windu and why he was in the system if we were having a tour with the 501st. He told me that we were to be transferred to the 187th if the 501st had to go out and fight. I made sure to tell this to Aurra.

'If they have to fight huh? I might be able to do something about that and get you on Windu's ship, you just make sure you kill him okay?' It wasn't really a question so I didn't answer, something I was thankful for. My heart had dropped into my stomach, not at the thought of killing Windu, that only brought anger, but at the thought of what Aurra was going to do. She always took things too far and I was afraid of what would happen to my friends.

 _Friends_?! No, I didn't have friends, I was a bounty hunter and I was going to be even better than dad ever was, I promised myself. I didn't have friends.

* * *

Rex POV

I was currently debriefing with the Master Chief on today's events. I told him about the little shooting activity with the turbo lasers, despite the fact he had been there, I told him about the little course I had them do in a Cobra, before I had them race the same course against each other and then in teams on speed restricted bikes. I then took the boys for lunch in the mess hall, they got a little rowdy, especially Jax and his friends thanks to a slightly giddy Boba, but they had calmed quickly. I then took them to one of the briefing rooms and showed them the real life combat footage ONI had given us that showed real battles but had been cut into a more child friendly format. I ended the day showing the boys some before and after pics of Geonosis. Many would disagree with that but I wanted to round off the day with a message, a message of Mandalorian might.

'And the boy?' Yeah, Boba.

'He seems to be integrating well. A natural leader, very smart, skilled, he's everything we would be looking for in a soldier.'

'And what do you want to do with him?' That one's easy.

'I want to bring him back in. He's just a little kid in a galaxy much too large for him, trying to fill a set of armour that's even bigger. He's making friends and he's doing well, with them he looks like any other Cadet.' The Chief turned to stare out the window, it was a habit of his I had picked up on. Despite his stoic image the Chief was very expressive, if you knew what to look for, a little head turn here, a lingering stare there or even a shift in his shoulders, all of them told you what the Chief was feeling at any time, and I had learned to read those signs. His staring out of the viewport wasn't a nervous habit, but a conflicted one. Whatever the Chief was thinking about he was conflicted.

'And what should we do with him?' Ah. It was no longer what would I like to do in best case scenario but what should we do in case of worst case.

'He knows too much, about Kamino, the clones, how we operate, our weaknesses and now the 501st. That knowledge cannot fall into Separatist hands.'

'And what should we _do_ with him, Captain?' I guess there was no skirting around the issue, Chief had even used my rank against me.

'Best bet, capture. Most likely, termination.' The Chief gave a solemn nod and dismissed me, he needed to be left to his thoughts.

* * *

John POV

'What are you going to do?' I didn't turn to look at her as she lent against my side, I was still thinking.

'We wait and see.' I could feel her shift to look at me.

'That's not like you. You usually have plan for everything, even if it's a stupid one, or just plain crazy.'

'Right now there's too much we don't know and I don't want to take any chances.

'Which means you do have a plan, you just don't want to use it.' I just turned to look at her. 'Stop worrying, okay, and come with me.'

She slipped her hand into mine and started to gently drag me off the bridge, saying I needed to clear my mind. After being taken back to our room and getting out of my armour I was pushed back onto the bed. As I was lead on my bed Cortana snaked her way up my body until she was sitting on my chest.

'I won't break, you know?! You can be a little rougher this time.'

'Then don't complain to me if I end up bruising you, it's hard to keep control around you.' The Cortana patented smirk was back in full force.

'You really know how to compliment a girl, don't you. Trust me John, if you can bruise my hips I won't be complaining.' I didn't have time to think about what she meant, I thought she didn't like bruises, before Cortana started. By the time we finished she was again passed out on my bed and I still hadn't yet found my release, though I was closer than last time. I picked myself up and head down to the gym to try and burn through my hormones. I was down in the gym for over an hour and by the time I had finished I had managed to get myself down from the high, though my crotch really hurt. Still, I took myself back to my room, had a quick shower and got back into bed, being careful not to wake her up.

* * *

Aurra POV

I never wanted to come back to the decrepit dust ball but it was the only place I was going to get what I need on such short notice. I moved from the spaceport and through the market, stopping to get a quick bite to eat, before heading into the den and getting a drink. From there I decided it was time to go and see him again and so got up off my arse and made my way to the two guys on guard duty. The older members still recognised me so they waved me through without a problem, though the same can't be said for the newer ones. As I was making my way through the compound a pair of weequays, who had bottles littered around them, decided I shouldn't be here and tried to stop me. It was pitifully easy to take them out and leave them in a pile of booze and blood on the floor. It turns out I didn't quiet beat them up enough, because they set off the alarms. In less than 10 minutes I was surrounded.

'At least you've improved security.' I didn't bother putting my hands up as I turned to face the gangs boss, who was making their way through the crowd.

'Ah, my beautiful darling Aurra. What is it you have come back for, hmm? Ah, I knew it, you could not resist my charm, ahahaha, and have come back to, no?'

'No, Hondo, I haven't. In fact I need your help on a job.'


	36. Chapter 36

Aurra POV

'Well, it is certainly ambitious, I will give you that, but what makes you think I will but my men on the line for this crazy plan of yours?' Hondo was perhaps one of the more moderate pirate captains in the galaxy, minus his more eccentric tendencies. With his calmer personality, and the fact he was less likely to shoot his men for no reason, he drew in more men and other pirate scoundrels then other Captains. While this didn't give him the criminal empire of the Hutts it did give him a sizeable fleet, one large enough to harry a Republic fleet.

'Because of what you stand to gain.' Hondo leant back in his seat.

'Oh, and what is that?'

'Recognition, wealth, power.' He was more sensible than others but at the end of the day Hondo was still a pirate, and a greedy one at that. I was asking Hondo to put his fleet up against the combined might of the 501st and the 187th fleet, which would be suicide if it was a straight up fight. Instead, I knew Hondo had some special _fleet basing rights_ on a few Separatist and Republic worlds in which he greased a few palms and was allowed to trade supplies, usually stolen from the one he was trading with or from their opposition. I wanted Hondo to use some of his connections to arrange a trap for whichever fleet followed him.

First Hondo's pirates enter the Vanqor system and fire on the Republic ships, getting their attention, then they turn and run. The Republic will be forced to respond to due recent piracy in the area.

See, Hondo had been raiding Republic trade supplies in the area and was being payed by the Separatists to not to do it to them. He had also been very elusive, forcing the Republic to seize this chance or lose more supplies. This will separate the two fleet and allow a waiting Separatist fleet to trap the pursuing Republic fleet. The only variable would be which fleet followed.

If the 501st came Hondo will be recognised as the mastermind behind the downfall of the Master Chief, paid handsomely and his name will be recognised throughout the galaxy. The people trying to join his crew will go up drastically, as will the people trying to hire him, and he could make his own pirate empire. While he does this Boba gets his revenge and I get a large paycheck, win win.

If the 187th comes Hondo gets paid and recognition for killing one of the best Jedi Generals in the war as well as one of the most prominent Jedi in the galaxy. While this is the lesser of the two Windu still dies and Hondo makes money. While Boba hadn't done it personally he will have helped to arrange the downfall of Windu and can sneak out once the week is over.

Obviously there was always the chance that the Republic might not follow at all, but again, Hondo and his crew had been making big waves in the sector and would be dealt with if he just lands in their laps like that. But at least they wouldn't both come, some one would have to take care of the children.

'And how do you suppose I convince these contacts of mine?' Easy, their Neimoidians, they'll do anything to get a bit of cash and recognition. Meaning they would be more than happy to help bring down either the Master Chief or Windu. All Hondo had to do now was pick a Separatist fleet large enough to help out and then draw in the Republic.

* * *

John POV

It had been a quiet two days. Rex had been keeping an eye on the boy and, so far, only had positive things to say about him and his integration with the others. Cortana was busy working with ONI to find out how Boba even got on the Trip in first place, but they hadn't found much. I was currently reading up on some reports Halsey sent me about Mandalore, for some reason she insisted I familiarise myself with the goings on on the planet and in the sector. It was menial work but at least it gave me something to do.

I was just starting on a report about the Royal Academy of Government, the old Mandalorian Naval Academy, when an alert sounded, this was the early warning alert that only sounded when we detected unauthorised hyperspace jumps into the system. It was all hands on deck, and just in time for the pirates to show up. We knew Vanqor was once the waypoint for the pirates in the system but they hadn't been back since we first sent a fleet to survey the area to try and locate the ones raiding our supply lines. We suspected these pirates came from Florrum but they had been making sure not to become to ambitious and warrant a look from one of the fleets. The only reason a fleet had checked Vanqor was because the 327th Star Crop were on the way to Felucia and it was on the way. That and the fact they were trying to remain at least partial valuable by trading supplies with us. Still, it was odd to see them back, I thought they would have been smarter than to come back to a known hide out, or at least smart enough to send scouts first. Although, perhaps they were.

The pirates started firing as soon as they entered the system which means they knew we were here, and a fleet of their size couldn't take on our combined might so they obviously weren't planning on taking us on and forcing us to retreat, retaking their hideout. If I had to guess, they were baiting us. It seems Boba's patience paid off.

After a brief skirmish the pirate fleet, suffering a fair bit of damage, was turning to jump back into hyperspace. I order Cortana to isolate the capital ships transmission frequency before they jumped. After they entered hyperspace General Windu commed to say he would pursue the pirates.

'No. My fleet can deal with them faster, less chance of any getting away and increasing the amount damage done to any that do.' He gave me a nod.

'Very well. Transfer the cadets to me and you can be on your way.'

'Actually I'll be taking them with me.' The shock on his face was evident.

'What?! You can't be serious. This is a great…' I cut him off there.

'This isn't a good idea, you know. There will be consequences.' I turned to Rex, who had just arrived on the bridge.

'We'll be fine. Besides, General Windu agrees with me'

'You know he had more to say.'

'You can't prove that.'

' _This is_ _ **a**_ _great_ isn't exactly good grammar.' He had raised an eyebrow at me, I took it as a challenge.

'Who knows how those crazy Jedi teach their young, it's all a mystery to us.'

'I think they at least teach good grammar.'

'Then perhaps it's just their greatest Masters that have speech impediments.' Rex just shook his head and left it at that. With the fleet now in hyperspace I order Rex to put the boys into their emergency lockdown protocols, where we lock them into the officers quarters due to it being one of the safest parts of the ship, and then Rex was to wait around half an hour before bringing Boba and his friends to the bridge, it will give the boy some time to warn his allies he was on the pursuing fleet. While Rex went to do that I moved to the viewport and watched the colours wash over the bridge. It was oddly calming.

According to Halsey, due to the speeds we travel at in hyperspace we barely age a few seconds in the hours it takes to get to different places. I didn't quite understand it myself, something about time being relative to gravity or something, but it was an interesting thought to keep me occupied until Boba's arrival.

When Rex finally arrived with the boys he took his place at my right but was facing the cadets who, from the sound of shuffling feet, were standing at attention.

'Did they abandon you? When they found out you were on this ship, following them, did they abandon you?' I hadn't turned around to face the boys but I heard a tiny scraping of feet, Boba was tensing up.

'I was hoping for an answer Boba Fett.' With that I turned to face them, angling my helmet to Boba, making sure he knew that I knew.

'Did Aurra Sing abandon you?' It took a little digging, and a break from heavy thoughts of the space time continuum, to piece it together but I did it. I remembered the last time I met with Aurra Sing, in the hostage crisis on Coruscant, and remember her file had two important pieces of information. One, she had suspected relations with Pirate Captain Hondo Ohnaka,the pirate based on Florrum. Two, she had worked with Jango Fett. It didn't take long to realise who these weequay pirates were and who sent them.

Panicking, Boba grabbed the pistol of a nearby deck officer and aimed it at me.

'I want free passage off this ship.' The rest of the bridge reached for their guns but I just held up my hand and they slowly calmed down and reholstered.

'You care about others, don't you Boba, about their lives? Your not as ruthless as those you travel with are you?'

'I said…' I cut in.

'That's why you aimed at me.' I knew the others we a bit confused but I had the boy figured out, I hope, otherwise this could turn messy. 'You stole a pistol and aimed it at the only fully armoured member on this bridge.' The look of shock on Boba's face was enough to confirm it was a subconscious act, that only made it easier to read him.

'What?'

'You could have aimed at a deck officer, for Rex's exposed head or even, the most valuable targets, the cadets. Instead you aimed at me.' His hands started shaking and his face screwed up in self-deprecation, for his own perceived weakness. So, perhaps to prove to himself that he could, he swung his blaster at the cadets, aiming directly at Jax.

'I want free passage off this ship.'

'Your threat would hold a lot more weight if you actually had your finger on the trigger.' With a scream of frustration Boba grabbed the pistol with both hands but still hadn't but his finger on that trigger.

'It's not nice to be abandoned again, is it?'

'What the hell are you talking about?'

'First your father, now Aurra Sing.' I could see the rapid blinking of Boba's eyes as he tried to make sense of what I just said.

'What are you… He didn't abandon me, he died.'

'Isn't that the same thing. He had all the money he could want, he raised the army he had been looking, he had a son. He had everything he could want and yet, he still took a job from the Jedi who murdered his father figure and the rest of the True Mandalorians. It was Dooku who lead the Jedi to destroy the True Mandalorians and while Dooku may have forgotten your father, there is no way your father forgot Dooku. So why join him?' That put him on the back foot.

'Did he name you his heir, Boba, before landing on Geonosis? You had to have been 10, 11 years old, more than old enough to go out on your own. As soon as you could live on your own he took the first opportunity he could to die. After all, why else would he join Dooku if not to try and kill him.

'Your father saw what Dooku was capable of and had to have done his research on his opponent, realising he had only gotten stronger over the years. He knew he would lose but he still went anyway. Except he didn't count on the Jedi or the arrival of the clone army, did he Boba?'

'Shut up.'

'I heard he didn't even tried to dodge when a Jedi Master, famed for their fighting capabilities, ran at him.'

'I said **shut up**.'

'He wanted to die, and in doing so, he abandoned you.'

'I SAID SHUT UP.' I gave him a second, watching his hands, that had grew more and more shaky as I talked.

'Look at Jax, Boba. Does he look scared?'

'What?' I admit it was a bit of a topic change, but I did have a point.

'He hasn't even flinched, not when you pulled the pistol, not when you aimed it at him and not as you grew angry. That's because he knows what I know, you won't pull that trigger.

'It was nice, wasn't it, to have a friend, someone you could trust implicitly. Someone who trusted you enough that you could point a gun at them and they still wouldn't doubt you. He's your friend, Boba, and he isn't scared of you. _He_ hasn't abandoned you.' Boba was starting to lower the gun, tears rolling down his face, as he stared at the boy who hadn't lost faith in him despite all that Boba had done.

'You have a choice now Boba. Are you a pirate or a Mandalorian?

'If you're a pirate you will be jettisoned in an escape pod upon entry into the Felucian system. I plan on wiping out all pirates in the system so, if we win, you die too. We are, however, heading into a trap so the odds are in your favour.

'If you're a Mandalorian, drop the pistol and join your brothers in this battle and the one person who never lost faith in you.' It was a tense few seconds before Bobas shaky hands dropped the gun and Jax took the two steps between himself and Boba, engulfing his friend in a hug. The rest of the bridge crew finally took the breath they had been holding for so long.

'You're wrong about one thing Chief. It wasn't just one person who had faith in Boba, it was two.' With his piece said Rex moved to rest a hand on Bobas shoulder, who in turn rested his head on Rex's hand, while the other moved up into the boys hair and rubbing gently. While the three were having their moment the rest of the crew got back to work and the other two boys, who had responded with anger and worry when Boba had a gun on their friend, joined in the group hug. I gave Rex a nod and told him to take the boys back to lockdown while Cortana moved to to my side.

'What now?' I waited until they had left until I answered.

'Contact the pirates, tell them we have something of theirs.' Cortana looked at me, shocked.

'But you just…' I put my hand on her shoulder to stop her, after a pause she just gave me a nod and sent the message. With that I moved to the holotable, waiting for the pirates to answer.

'I must say, you surprise me, Master Chief. I did not expect a personal call, to what do I owe the honour?' The hologram on the table showed a well dressed weequay pirate with a Kowakian monkey lizards on his shoulder.

'Captain Ohnaka, I presume?'

'Oh ho ho, now you're flattering me. To become so well known that even the great Master Chief knows my name, it is quite something let me tell you.'

'It wasn't hard to figure out if you follow the trail. Boba Fett has been spotted with Aurra Sing, Aurra Sing has suspected romantic ties to you, your base is on Florrum and Florrum is near the Vanqor system, then there's the fact your fleet is made up of weequay Saucers. The only reason the Republic hasn't dealt with you yet is because we have little interest in this sector and you have been careful to stay just below the radar. But you knew we wouldn't miss a chance to deal with you if you turned up in front of us.' Ohnaka gave a brief round of applause and complimented me.

'Well done. To have figured it all out in such a short amount of time is impressive, they did say you were smart. Unfortunately you seem to have arrived at the correct conclusion under false pretences. You see, I have not been in touch with either Aurra or Boba. I was only in the system because there is an old supply base of mine I wanted to check up on, you see, I am missing something very important and want it back.'

'Yet you came out of hyperspace shooting, something that could only happen if you had your weapons already primed,which means you knew we were in the system. If you knew we were in the system you would know the fleet size and realise your's couldn't match. Then there's the fact you ran as soon as you entered the system, despite firing first, meaning your objective was to make us give chase, knowing you were a target we could ill afford to let go. The question is why come at all if your fleet can't match? My guess, because you plan in place to deal with your pursuers, Separatist most likely, you have been playing both sides of the war.

'Still, your fleet can't match ours, which means you've set an ambush for us. Most likely, the Separatist have blocked off the hyperspace route out of the system. Only problem is they know that hyperspace beacons communicate with all navcomputers within a 500km radius and so, to surprise us and attack us from behind, they will need to be out of that 500km radius so the beacon doesn't tell our navcomputers about the other ships in the system so they can calculate our jump around them. If we knew they were in the system we could have shields and weapons ready before we exit hyperspace and they lose their advantage.' Ohnaka started to stroke his chin.

'They said you were smart, just not how smart. What is it you want?'

'To negotiate. By Republic travel and safety regulations a hyperspace beacon must be, at minimum, 1000km away from any in system celestial body. I can over ride our navcomputers and come out a full 0.2 seconds after the safety features bring us out of hyperspace, which puts an additional 300-350km between us and the droids. This gives us plenty of time to turn and face. The droids won't be able to fire on us as optimal weapon range for droid cruisers is 200km, with a full range of 450km. This means you have to face us head on.

'Even with disabling the trap I realise it will be a costly victory, though be rest assured, it will still be a Republic victory, we do have two fleets. But, as I said, I am prepared to negotiate to have you and your men help us so as to save as many of my men as I can.' He seemed intrigued enough to listen, though he did look apprehensive. Still, I didn't need him to accept the deal because he had just confirmed the Separatists plan, but his help would limit casualties.

On the surface it was the perfect plan, stay out of enemies sight, attack from behind before they can protect themselves and fight back then clear up the rest. It was simple but effective and still allowed you to swap and change tactics as needed while also securing your own escape route if needed. The problem with such a simple plan is that you need the perfect bait. It can't just be enticing but also believable, unfortunately for the Separatists Ohnaka and his fleet just wasn't believable, they would need to have help to win against one Republic fleet and so I was on the lookout for said help.

'And what do you have to offer? I stand to gain much from your demise, nothing personal, just business you see, but more than enough to take a risk. And that is if I even believe you in the first place. If we were playing Sabacc you look to be the one who would bluff during such high stakes.' Well, he wasn't entirely wrong, I was bluffing about the extra ships. But then I didn't need them, I was more than confident I could achieve victory with what I had available, I just needed to stall the pirates long enough to use it. The Chancellor had been setting up the 501st to fully test all the tech in our new arsenal, so that's what I planned to do.

'Then let me sweeten pot. I currently have the most well equip Legion in the entire Republic army, some of this tech will fetch a high price on the black market.'

'That it would, if it remains a rare piece of merchandise. I have been hearing, however, that the weapons you have are becoming more and more common around the galaxy. While they would still fetch a good price it will be nothing compared to what the Separatist will pay me to be rid of you.'

'Not everything I have is becoming common place. If we were gambling I wouldn't need to bluff as I am holding a Squadron of Aces.' Ohnaka took another second to stroke his chin in thought.

'Hmm, Aces are a very valuable card indeed.'

'As valuable as my Ace pilots and their prototype fighters, the Broadswords. They are the only commissioned squadron of Broadswords in the galaxy and are more valuable than any other fighter in existence, superior in every way.'

'While that would be impressive it is, again, reliant on the fact that I would have to believe you.'

'Then perhaps a demonstration. You convince the droids to hold position and block our escape and I show of what the fighters can do. You then decide whether to join us or not. If you turn your guns on the Separatists then we will give you the fighters with full fuel and armament and no tampering, in addition to returning Boba Fett. If you decide to fire on us and I win, I promise, you will be wiped out to the last, none of you will survive.'

'Now that promise… I believe. I accept your offer, prove these Broadswords are worth more than the Separatists are paying for my services and I will help you, if you don't, I won't. Also, a little amendment. If I do join you then you and I will meet, face to face. Alone if we must, but without helmets.'

'Believe me Captain, once this is all over, that won't be a problem.' With that done I turned to Cortana who told me we had less than 10 minutes before we entered the system, Felucia if the maps are correct.

I sent a call down to Broadsword Actual, the Broadsword fighter squadron, and told them to prepare for a Delivery Run, Farewell Gifts. Due to the highly classified nature of the squadron and their deadly payload they had been given codewords and phrases to make it hard for anyone listening into our communications to know what their orders were.

Runs were a reference to their payloads, the types of missiles, they will be using for each mission. A Milk Run meant they were to load photon torpedoes instead of their Nova Missiles and a Delivery Run meant Novas instead of Photons.

Next we had what type damage they would be doing. Standard meant they were just to fire and damage targets, Farewell meant complete annihilation of the targets and Winter meant they were to instead aim to cause environmental damage, such as setting off minefields, causing avalanches, blowing up asteroids or, if equipped with Nova's, start a nuclear winter by bombarding a planet with nuclear missiles.

Then we had target acquisition. Gifts are meant to be shared, so that meant they were to spread their payload across all targets, and Cards are for an individual, meaning the payloads are for a specific target.

The Chancellor wanted to test all weapons, well now was the perfect time, no Jedi and, with the annihilation of the Separatist, no reliable witnesses.

As soon as we jumped into the system I ordered the fleet to turn about and, sure enough, there was the combined Separatist and pirate blockade. Within seconds Actual was in the air and heading straight for the enemy fleet at blistering speeds.

* * *

Potshot POV

'This is Potshot calling Broadsword Actual. Today we are going on a nice and easy Delivery Run. It will be the first time we have travelled this route so remember, post letters through letter box or into post boxs, remember people must sign for packages and don't pet the dogs, they don't like postmen.' A Broadsword was different from the 170's I'll tell you that. These beauties were the only ones of their kind in the entire army and you could tell just by watching it. Flying one only made it even more obvious. The layout was basically the same, nothing majorly different, but the ride was smoother, better inertial dampeners, better targeting computers and a _much_ better armament. Hell they invent a new set of codewords just to hide the new stuff and they made us sound like postmen. We had nuclear missiles and they chose to make us sound like a group of the only people that dogs hate, who didn't find that funny. Then again we did have orders not to get into dogfights.

Hawk had no humour, apparently, as he ordered all wings to go silent, though I'm sure he was just telling me to shut up. Hawk was Squadron leader for Broadsword Actual and he had _no_ humour what so ever. Even Rex, the no nonsense, second in command with a wonky eye and arm could take a joke. Hell, even he made them. Hawk, on the other hand, couldn't.

I get why you want a no nonsense person in charge of the most dangerous squadron in the galaxy that is equipped with the most dangerous weapons in the galaxy but you'd think he'd at least lighten up once in awhile. No such luck.

Soon my radar started blinking, incoming Vultures. Hawk radioed back in and we were told to move down to half speed and wait for ARC-170 support. As we cruised towards the Vultures the 170's started coming onto radar.

'Full stop in 3, 2, 1, mark.' On Hawks order all Broadswords screeched to a halt, reverse thrusters briefly firing to reduce momentum. The 170's zoomed past us and looked to have slammed into the wall of Vulture Droids. With that Hawk ordered full speed and for Broadsword Actual to take up flying v, attack formation.

'Pick your targets boys, but we aren't sticking around. Keep on pushing till we break through. If anyone picks up a bandit then your wingman takes it out. Don't stop for anything.' With our order received we started to weave through the battle. Due to the tight space we couldn't get up to full speed but we were still going significantly faster than the 170's and the Vultures. That didn't mean they didn't try to pick us off though.

Broadsword-5 was the first to pick up a bandit and, being Broadsword-6, I was the wingman who had to deal with it. It was a wily little bastard and didn't seem keen on letting me get a lock on. It got off a few shots on Broadsword-5 but most were just grazes, barely flaring the shields, but it was ducking under passing fighters, passing through ensuing dogfights and making hard climbs, banks and dives that no organic could possibly keep up with just to keep me off it's tail. It was only thanks to the inertial dampeners and the zero g environment that I didn't pass out, and it was only thanks to my superior speed that I shot the Vulture down, it was the wiliest droid I ever saw.

A quick call to Click, Broadsword-5, revealed he had been the crazy bastard doing the crazy stunts, trying his level best to lose the droid and it only followed him. Thank the Gods he hadn't made any sharp turns as we were falling behind as it was. A quick check on the squadron tracker showed minimal shield loss to Click but that we had lost Broadswords-4, 13 and 20, putting us at 21 Broadswords left, it was plenty. A few of the others had taken a bit of damage but we could make it.

Click and I put on a bit of speed, not really advisable due to the other fighters zooming about, but we needed to catch up. When we were 5km from the squad we slowed down to match them. Soon we had broken through and Hawk ordered all of us to ready the Delivery. We were keeping line, nearly there, nearly.

'Fire.' 21 nuclear missiles soared from underneath us, heading straight for the Sepy cruisers, still nearly 400 meters away. We all turned sharply to quickly get out of firing range. Their pointed defences had only just started firing at us but had quickly changed to the Novas. I kept an eye on the Nova's on the radar and counted 6 lost before the first one even hit. I couldn't see it, or even hear it, but the listing of the Providence class capital ship on the radar was more than enough to know it had worked.

* * *

Hondo POV

It seems these fighters were something else. To be so confident to send them alone against a fleet of this size was ballsy, I liked it. Aurra had complained, obviously, that I was putting our paycheck at risk. To which I argued wasn't it _my_ paycheck. She would be getting a finders fee, but that wouldn't chance. Just because she was willing to abandon her partner and team leader, apparently, didn't have anything to do with me. So what if I let Boba live, it wasn't me he would try to kill in revenge.

It's just business Darling.

Tuning her out I asked my radar reader to tell he what these fighters were equipped with. Twin Rotary Cannons, military grade, Missile pods, military grade, Photon torpedoes, military grade, and the highest recorded speed of any fighter in the galaxy. In short, a steal. And they seemed to have made some modifications to the torpedoes, if the fact that they were using just one per Separatist ship was any indication.

Sure it could be a ruse to buy more time, but the Master Chief never specified that they were capable of taking out cruisers, just that they were the best fighters in the galaxy. If it was a ruse he would have kept it going for as long as possible rather than play his hand here. It wasn't like he was sending them to die either, if these missile don't work then I know he was trying to play me, if all the fighters are destroyed I know he played me.

'Those torpedoes, they are a bit slow, no?' My scanner quickly went to work. Ahh, I just love a pirate who just gets on with their job without complaining, or trying to stab me in the back.

'Sir. These readings, they show the torpedoes are using jet propulsion.' Missiles?! 'SIR, they seem to be…' Before the man could tell me what alarmed him so the first missile hit and I could see the Providence class capital ship break apart, in one hit. The rest of them blew up and destroyed nearly the entirety of the Separatist fleet. Ahahaha. Oh I couldn't **wait** to meet this Master Chief.

Just then what looked to be an electrical storm emerged from the epicentre of the explosions and washed over me and my fleet.

'I can confirm sir, without a doubt, those were nuclear was an EMP, our systems will be fried. Were dead in the water and are without aid.' Shit. A Squadron of Aces indeed.

Well played Master Chief, well played. Now you hold all the cards. As was evident by your unblemished fleet moving to finish off the rest of the Separatists and, I suspect, us too. I pegged you wrong Chief. You don't look like an experienced gambler and I thought it was because you didn't play. It seems you just couldn't find a sucker to play you, until now.

'You were a fine opponent.' With that the Republic fleet opened fire and, without shields, they tore through us in seconds.


	37. Chapter 37

John POV

'Twenty four. Twenty… **four** of the _most_ expensive weapons in the **entirety** of the Army and you used them _all_. I expected maybe 5 to be used, in conjunction with your fleet, not for you to use all of them instead of. We can fix ship's, Master Chief, we can replace soldiers but we cannot replace… those… **missiles**.' The Chancellor wasn't best pleased to hear about all 24 Nova missiles being used at once. While it had proven to be a good test, they had wiped out the largest Separatist fleet on record and disabled the pirates, but it was a very expensive one. Apparently the cost of mining nuclear material, keeping it secret, transporting it in secret and turning it into warheads, in secret, was a very costly affair. Whoops.

'Then there's the fact you disobeyed protocol. This isn't orders that you don't agree with, or you doing this to save lives, you deliberately broke protocol and dragged _children_ into a warzone. Do you know what will happen if anyone finds out that you dragged boys not even 13 years old, not even teens, into the middle of a war zone we have been fighting over for the past month. You took these boys into the theatre that the Military High Council had named the most dangerous theatre of war. If the Separatists, hell if a nosy reporters find outs, the backlash will be tremendous. So, what do you have to say for yourself?'

'They're Mandalorians sir.'

'What?! How is that any sort of justification?'

'They're Mandalorians sir. They've cleared basic training and are more than old enough to join their brothers in war.' The Chancellor took a second to assess me.

'You want to take them down to Felucia with you don't you? Are you mad?!' Maybe I was, but they were Mandalorians, that made them ready enough to go.

'Their as good as any of the fully trained clone troopers I've been getting recently.' While I had some reservations about the Jedi in the past they had proven themselves to be fairly competent as commanders as the war progressed, but they were never soldiers. And this was never more apparent than with General Shaak Tii. Before she took over as leader of the Cuy'val dar after Jango's death she had reviewed Jango's training methods and deemed them to be too extreme and held _hints of Separatist sabotage_. She meant the live fire exercises.

Mandalorians, throughout our history, had never pulled their punches, not even for our children. This is because we know if we let up, if we stop pushing them, they will only ever be _so good_ never their best. So we pushed and we pushed.

So, in keeping with Mandalorian tradition, Jango setup live fire exercises for all troopers over the age of 14. And then a Jedi got rid of it. The ones most affected were the ODSTs and Commandos as their training was likened to _extreme torture_ by the togruta. Funny, Jango, Halsey and the rest of the Cuy'val dar all said it was only borderline.

I made sure to inform the Chancellor of my thoughts on the matter, these new troopers weren't ready for war and I would rather take the boys, at least they had time to learn.

'That may be, Master Chief, but I am afraid, even if you are exercising your cultural rights, I cannot allow you to take those boys down to the planet's surface. The new Mandalorian army and navy are all restricted to 16 years of age and the Duchess is not budging on this one, despite all the pressure being placed on her. I cannot allow boys of only 12 to go to war when even Mandalore isn't doing the same, I'm sorry.'

I then suggested using the boys to force Satines hand. A couple of photos, a videos or two, with a snappy caption like _if they can do why can't you_ or something and vuala instant Mandalorian progaganda. Then put a bill to the senate called the Mandalorian Heritage Reclamation Act or something. People see the photos, see that the boys are ready to fight and reclaim their heritage and force Satine to drop entry age by order of the Senate. She won't be able to refuse and Mandalorian becomes that bit more militarised, and we ensure the next generation don't join Death Watch by snatching them while their young.

We also release potentially damaging information ourselves, giving us the trust of the people by being transparent and removing doubts we may be hiding anything, after all wouldn't we hide child soldiers if we were going to hide anything, which covers up the nukes. We also put a positive spin on harmful information by twisting it to help our cause. Then theirs the fact the Chancellor gets praised for standing up for peoples rights and heritage for Mandalore which increase his popularity and allows people the hope he will stand up for theirs.

The Chancellor gave it some thought before telling me to wait two days before deploying the boys because _if we are going to do this, we are going to do this right_. The boys would stay with the fleet while the Kaminoans quickly produce 12 sets of battle ready armour, with at least 1 spare set each, all in traditional Mandalorian style, thin t-shaped visor and everything, all they would have to do was change the outside aesthetics on some premade armour and resize it. The armour will then be delivered to the fleet along with a camera crew, who will be recording the boys progress and the rest of the Battle of Felucia, before the footage is handed over to ONI for editing.

During that two day wait I would be taking over from, and helping to relieve, Aayla Secura and the 327th Star Corp, who would become my reserve units. They had it bad down there, having had hostile lifeforms, deadly diseases and entrenched droids, but at least we didn't have to worry about the locals so at least they had been afforded some creature comforts here and there. And with the 501st taking over they could take full advantage.

The Chancellor also said he would be sending the reserve Nova missiles ahead of the armour and reminded me not to use them all at once, as they were our only reserves and it would take time to replenish them.

With that done, the Chancellor ended the call. I immediately commed Rex and told him to start readying the men for our landing on Felucia. I would leave Rex here to watch over the boys as I needed someone to drill the boys these over the next few days, especially Boba who lacked any formal military training. Once Boba was up to speed he would be Platoon Lead and be in charge of the other cadets.

As I went down to the hangar I noticed a buzz in the air. See, there was a bit of a friendly rivalry between certain Legions that flared up every so often, and one of those rivalries was between the 501st and the 327th. Because Legions often didn't see each other when on leave some rather bored clones at ONI decided to make a sort of scoreboard so everyone could keep track of everyone else. It was a little bit of harmless fun but brought with it a lot of bragging rights and a lot of betting.

We had a lot of different columns that ranged from _Most funny fuck up,_ which was held by the 235th for when the entire Legion got the Runs when a trooper didn't disinfect the Legions drinking water, a very messy affair, to the _Most deadly assignment_. Currently, that was held by the 501st, we had a few others like _Most changes in command_ and _Most Jaig Eyes_ but they weren't close to being contested by anyone. But our pride and joy, the title of the _Most deadly assignment_ was. And our challenger, the 327th Star Corp.

Some would say it made light of serious and deadly affairs but as an old Mandalorian saying went _if you can't laugh about it later, why the fuck live through it now?_ It was a bit of an odd saying but it basically meant if you let the past haunt you, you forget to live.

Currently we held the title after the two battles of Geonosis, our title being awarded for the Second, but as time went on, Felucia and the 327th had been racking up points.

It was scored using a fairly arbitrary system that made no sense to anyone but the ones in ONI who made it but hell if the men didn't take it seriously all the same. Currently Geonosis was ranked top for _hostile populace, extreme weather, deadly diseases, flesh eating disease/wildlife, dangerous wildlife, entrenched droids, droid factory world, experimentals, revisiting_ and a host of other things.

Felucia had scored points for _extreme weather, extreme terrain, deadly diseases, flesh eating diseases/wildlife,_ double points in _dangerous wildlife, entrenched droids_ and a few more. The were docked a few points for _friendly locals_ and _comfy living_ but the scores were multiplied by the time spent on a planet and time was ticking, which only brought the 327th score up.

On planets such as this you really don't want to stick around so you finish as fast as you can, but with that score multiplier, I didn't doubt the 501st would be putting in a little extra effort to finish faster just to save their title.

* * *

Ahsoka POV

I really felt like falling asleep. I mean, I know politics was boring, not so much the politicians, like Padme and Riyo, just the act itself, but I didn't know it was this boring. My eyelids were heavy, my brain was grinding to a halt and the speaker had only just started. Why in hell did I have to listen to all this force fed crap that none of these people believe in when I could be out with Master Kenobi fighting battle droids, shooting, slashing and crushing things? Oh yeah, Master Kenobi had the hots for perhaps the galaxies most reviled politician.

After the disastrous leak of Senate video files Satine had become the new face of a broken democracy. The Separatists used her to slander the Republic, the Republic used her as an example of what not to do and the Neutral Systems were currently in talks about whether or not a vote should be held to elect a new leader and spokesperson for their movement, as they felt Satines negative attention wasn't helping their cause. I think Obi-Wan was the only one not actively keeping his distance. Well, him and Padme. The three of them had been spending more and more time together which had created a few rumours here and there. Some salacious, some sinister. I personally didn't care. So what if Master Kenobi was using our mission to evaluate the corruption within the Mandalorian government to see his friends, who was in dire need of some comfort and support.

At least I didn't care, until I was assigned to give a talk about corruption at the local Royal Academy of Government. I was currently sitting in on one of the students mock debates and you could smell the bullshit from here. They mustn't have moved onto covering up the smell in their curriculum just yet.

The debate was on the _ethics of war_ and you could see the fact the people who were arguing for war being unethical were clearly trying to big themselves up and try to say _oh look at me, aren't I brilliant. I oppose war as it kills people and that makes_ _ **me**_ _a good person as I don't want people to die, even the peasants. Oh, my thoughts on soldiers. They should all die, we'd be much better off without them. They only kill other anyway._ Arrogant pricks.

Their _opposition_ wasn't much better as they had been clearly been forced to argue against them, that you could fight a war and still be morally good. They had obviously found the first point they could find, _oh, people fight wars to stop others from dying_ , and stretched it out by pumping it full of crap so it would just reach the minimum of their debate time. They seemed to be saying _oh heavens. I am only doing this because I have too, okay. Really I'm with you because I'm such a good person. Aren't we good people, yes we're good people._ These pompous assholes were so full of themselves I wanted to retch.

'And what about you, Master Jedi?' Huh?

'Would you like to have a say? A Jedi peacekeeper _forced_ to fight in this ghastly war must have an interesting view for the students, yes?' That's the headteacher, now do you get why I say they were force fed this stuff. The debate was being put on for the whole school as a _demonstration of a real debate_. Really? It looked like indoctrination to me.

Still, I got up from my seat at the back of the auditorium and made my way to the stage.

'What are my views on the ethics of War? Well, war is a hard thing to describe to those who have never seen it but I will try. War is a mess, in both reality and in our hearts. It is a blood conflict that causes the deaths of many innocents, even your own. It is horror and it is light.

'Some of the greatest philosophers of the ages will say that _War turns men into monsters_ and I've seen many monsters while I have fought this war. I've seen men, who once gave money to the poor, throw others into the paths of the droid army just for a chance to live. I've seen men poison those who have taken no part in this war just to punish their enemies for resisting and fighting back. I've seen monsters that lives amongst the Separatists and I've seen monsters among the Republic, neither side is free of them. But, there are also Heroes too.

'Let me tell you a story about a man named Waxer. Waxer is a member of the 212th Attack Division. He, along with his partner, is responsible for finding out the enemies position, strengths and weaknesses. In other words, he is tasked with finding out the information needed to best kill your enemy. Waxer has, painted onto his helmet, a little picture of a Twi'lek child. If you ask Waxer who it is he will tell you it is a little girl from Ryloth he met during his time there and he just remembers her for… no particular reason. If you ask his brothers they will tell you something completely different.

'During the Battle of Ryloth the Separatist used the Twi'leks they had captured as meat shields to protect themselves from bombardment, so we had to go in on foot. It was a bloody battle that killed many clones and many Twi'leks, including the parents of a little girl called Numa. As Republic forces moved closer and closer to the prisoners a Republic thermal detonator landed at the prisoner's feet and the only one to notice was Waxer. See Waxer wears Numa's face as a reminder.

'A reminder of the little girl he saved that day.

'Running from the safety of his unit Waxer ran to the detonator, picked it up and threw it as far as he could. And for his brave act he was shot three times as he chose, not to defend himself, but others. After saving Numa's life Waxer, with three bleeding wounds, destroyed the squad of droids around him and freed the prisoners. Next, he scooped up the little girl, dived into the rubble of the broken buildings around him and waited for the battle to end. When all he could hear was the shuffling of feet Waxer emerged, gun at the ready and with Numa still hidden. After seeing the helmets of his brothers Waxer pulled that little girl to safety and was treated for his wounds.

'The greatest philosophers of the ages will tell you _War turns men into monsters_ , well they're wrong. If war does anything then it reveals. It reveals the acts a person is truly willing to commit if they could, it reveals their real desires and wants, and it reveals their true face, for the whole galaxy to see. If a man in peace will give money to the poor, why will he sacrifice them in war? Why would a man who is so used killing risk his life to save another rather than let them die?

'Because, like war, these are actions, war being the act of revealing true character, and an action is neither ethical or unethical, right or wrong, it is the reasons behind the actions, the reason why you do it, that decide that.

'The man who gives money didn't do it because he wanted to improve the lives of those who are poor, he did it so people would call him kind and generous. The man who kills, who fights wars, Waxer, does it, not because he likes to kill, but because he wants to defend others and stop them from dying. You praise charity as a righteous act, even when done for selfish reasons, yet you call killing an immoral act, even when done selflessly. But you forget an act is just an act, nothing more or less. You forget War is an act, and now you need to remember it is the reason behind an act that makes it right or wrong.

'Thank you.'

I walked back to my seat in a deafening silence. The headmaster seemed to take a while to gather himself and promptly dismissed the hall. Well that was fun. By the looks on everyone's faces they hadn't been expecting that from a Jedi.

I waited until everyone had left before making my way to the next lesson on my schedule. Uhh I was so _bored_.

'An impressive speech.' I will admit I jumped, a little, but I swear I made no noise what so ever in the slightest and, even if I did, it could never be described with the words squeak, meek or cute. 'Though I suppose that's what they get for inviting up a Mandalorian Jedi.'

'Lord Admiral Hood.' The man promptly stuck out his hand.

'At your service.' The man then asked if I could follow him but I said I needed to get back to my schedule. To which Lord Hood replied that _we both know this whole thing is just to keep me occupied while Master Kenobi visits his old_ friend _._

Yeah, of course we both knew that. I swear I wasn't going to kill my son of a Hutt Master when I next see him, promise.

Hood took me to the speeder garage where a well dressed man in a naval officer's uniform was waiting but it had some key differences. One was the colour, a darkish green, second was the symbol on his shoulder, a bird of some kind holding some arrows and a thunderbolt. Lord Hood called it a Shriek Hawk.

'Death Watch use a swooping Shriek Hawk as their symbol, we decided on a soaring one.'

'Why?' If you enemy chose one symbol shouldn't you try to distance yourself from it, not try to claim it as your own.

'Once upon a time Shriek Hawks ruled our skies, but we never hated them. Some times they brought fear and sometimes they brought awe, their power and majesty was an inspiration to us all. The Shriek Hawk has actually been a big influence in Mandalorian ship design, all the way from shuttles likes the Aka'jor to fighters like the Kom'rk. The Death Watch use the Shriek Hawk to say they should be feared. We use it to show we are not, but we are still powerful all the same.' I… was at a loss for words. A symbol of fear and dread turned into a symbol to rally behind, for protection and strength, it resonated on a level I didn't quite understand.

Hood and I got into the back of the speeder, he even held the door open for me, the gentleman, while the officer got in the front to drive.

'My son, if you're interested.' I grew a little flustered and averted my eyes. Still, as a Jedi I could _feel_ the smug amusement coming from the older man. Jerk.

When we stopped it was because we had just arrived at the Mandalorian Armies training ground and I had gotten myself a guided tour. While I was used to numbers of this size, a Legion usually consists of 90,000 after all, but this is the first time I have really seen an army train. We were constantly in and out of battle so it was either fight or rest, seeing soldiers train was a new one. We weaved ourselves through the tents, they still hadn't built a proper military compound as the Mandalorian government was building another domed city out in the wastelands that would be for military use only. While they were still separating the soldiers from everyone else at least they now had free travel.

Lord Hood took me from exercise to exercise, showing off his new force. For only a few weeks of training they seemed to be getting the basics down well but you could tell these weren't the Concordian warriors, these troopers hadn't been training for a lifetime.

Next we moved into one of only two proper buildings and moved towards an elevator. Hood gave a nod to his son, Thomas, who pulled out a key card and slotted it on the side of the elevator to open the doors. From there he pulled out a second one, inserted it into the panel, chose a floor and pulled it out. It was a little complicated but Hood explained it was to ensure no unauthorised personnel could access unwanted floors as, if you didn't have both key cards, mixed them up or didn't pull out the second card within a certain time frame of selecting a floor then, alarms went off and the elevator went straight to the detention centre where they sorted out the mistakes from the intrusions.

We were heading to B2F, the second level underground, which was a very fast ride, but Hood had yet to tell me why. The doors opened into a room of seated chairs that got higher each level back you went, so that everyone could see. In front of all the chairs was a large, blacked out window. Thomas moved over to the side of the room and flicked a switch. The screen lit up and the speakers came on. Just in time to see one of the Wolf Pack slug a guy strapped to a chair across the jaw. The sound of the smack reverberated around the room, and we weren't even in the room it happened in.

A Wolf was a very accurate description of this soldier because he started to stalk his way around the man in the chair, whom I had just noticed to be naked.

'Just give up, you Mandalore shit stain. You think you have what it takes? Well you don't. I've put every single Concordian soldier through 10 times more than you and they didn't even flinch. Look at you. Pathetic little Pass-a-fist.' Another lightning fast punch.

'Come on, little pig, just one little squeal and it will all be over. You could go back and join the rest of your pathetic brothers from Mandalore, the disgraces that they are, or you can just go home and cry to mommy about the mean and nasty man who did mean things.' A twin set this time, in the chest. The man in the chair was hunched over but they seemed to have tied him up in a way that anything other than a straight back would be uncomfortable, borderline painful.

'You think I want you in my new Corp. I was trained as a Commando by Walon Vau himself, this is nothing compared to what I, or my brother went through, while you were sitting pretty and dusting off your shaft. You think I'm gonna let a _boy_ like you join the Mandalorian Super Commandos then you had better pull your head out your ass and say something.' This punch was aimed at the groin. The strangled moan was painful for me so I couldn't imagine what it was like for him. The man spat up a bit of blood and the Wolf left him to spit it all out before grabbing the man under the chin.

'Anything to say?' The man spat the rest of the blood in his mouth into the Wolves visor, causing the Wolf to drop the man's head and let it bounce a few times before the man had the energy to stop it. The Wolf just used his hand to wipe the blood off his helmet before using his bloody hand to grab the man's hair and pulled his head back so the pair of them were eye to visor.

'Get him cleaned up. He joins the rest tomorrow, no matter what the doctor says.' The two Mandalorian guards, in full, traditional armour, cut the man loose and dragged his body out of the room before and equally naked Twi'lek female was dragged in.

'I asked for the next soldier and you get me a slave? Get me my fucking recruit.' The two who dragged the women in just tied her to the chair. With that Thomas turned off the screen.

'What the hell was that?' To be honest I was surprised I wasn't shaking more than I was, as that was brutal.

'The final trial individuals have to go through before being accepted into the new Mandalorian Super Commandos Corps. It's a rigorous interrogation scenario where the individual in question cannot make a single noise or they will be rejected. Though, some allowance is made to those who try to suppress their groans and moans of pain. Any who speak or cry out are rejected.' They were torturing them.

'Why, why do this? They're your soldiers.'

'Precisely. These soldiers have join us, not Death Watch, and what Death Watch will do to them will be far worse if they are ever caught. The Super Commandos will be operating as independent units, usually deep behind enemy lines. If they are ever caught they cannot reveal _anything_. And this sorts out the ones who have learnt what we taught them and those that haven't.'

'It's degrading.'

'Do you really think our enemy will treat them any better? You may be used to having some ethics in your war but we aren't. Our enemy is willing to do anything, we must do the same. We do this to better prepare our troops and protect our home and people, isn't that why you do it?' Ugh. Well, I couldn't well stand up to that now could I, not without being a hypocrite.

'We aren't doing it because we like to, Ahsoka Tano, we're doing it because we have to.'

'So why show me?'

'I am in need of your help.'


	38. Chapter 38

Boba POV

'How is it?' I rolled my shoulders and tightened the straps of my new armour. It was styled a lot like dads just coloured brown and green, though the tech inside was a vast improvement.

'A lot lighter then I was expecting.' Rex gave a snort of laughter.

'What did you expect, you've been lugging around your father's armour and that's made of Beskar.' With that Rex helped me finish loading the supplies, making sure to give me a final warning to stay safe. Felucia was a dangerous planet, sure, but I had been to worse so I would survive, the difficult thing would be making sure my others survived too. Still I was glad to be getting off this damned ship and doing something, I was used to actually being out there and fighting. I was annoyed and agitated from the wait but it was the others who took it worse.

Despite siding with the Master Chief and his men I couldn't say I really felt much for the other clones or the Jedi. I was here just because I wantd to be, I didn't magically grow feelings for the rest of them. Still, the rest of my boys did. They weren't used to killing and death like I was, so every time an injured soldier was brought onto the ship it hit them hard, it would have been worse if they had brought back the dead.

Me and the boys made only been taken off the ship and down to the planet once, yesterday night, and that was to attend the funeral. It was my first time going to one and it was rather simple, a bunch of men in front of a pyre, one man says a few words and then we chant the deceased off to the next life, I actually rather enjoyed it. Not in a sick, twisted kind of way, more because it felt nice to sent someone off rather than to leave them to rot. I just wish I knew about it when I had to leave dad back on Geonosis, though I suppose he got his fiery funeral when the Chief melt the planet.

After loading the last of the supplies I went to join my men, that felt nice to say. I had been given the rank of sergeant but it was a temporary rank and really only extended to my squad of 12. Still, it was something. We would be coming in with the film crew that was supposed to be taking videos of us as we were fighting but, in the interest of ours and their safety, Rex had told us not to expect anything too difficult once we got down there.

With everything ready and loaded up I joined the other cadets, though I suppose they're privates now, and the film crew, who looked one good scare away from shitting themselves. As the doors closed and the LAAT took us to the surface I noticed the calm that had come over the rest of the boys.

'Aren't you scared?' I looked over my shoulder at the film crew. They seemed to be getting an early start if that hovercam buzzing around was any indication, probably so they can go home quicker, the cowards.

'We're going into an active war zone, on one of the most dangerous planets in the galaxy. To fight in a battle that has taken one of the toughest Legions of fully trained troops over a month to just barely hang on, in a theatre of war that those up top have described as the most dangerous war zone since the Clone Wars began, fighting in armour they just scraped together and with weapons to big for us. We have no idea what we'll be facing and no idea what we'll be doing. Are you fucking serious? We're Mandalorians, we live for this shit. OHH RAH.' A little ODST cheer for everyone. Thank you Rex for that one.

'OHH RAH.' The others had been paying attention luckily, I don't think my point would have had quiet as much impact if I was the only one ohhing and rahing. The looks on the crew's faces was priceless though, they were trying to man themselves up and not look scared in front of a group of 12 year olds. And the Duchess though these guys were better than Mando's, yeah fucking right.

As soon as the doors opened after landing the boys and I immediately stood at attention, the Master Chief had come to welcome us personally.

'Good, you're here. We've lost contact with sector 629 and I need you and your men to check it out. Preliminary reports indicated heavy droid presence, either a moving column or entrenched legion we don't know, and I need you to find out what, where and how many. Take ranged weapons, as heavy as you can manage while still being free to move, with one sniper per every group of 4, choose your shooters wisely. Terrain is dense foliage but has a wide forest path near the outskirts of the sector close to sector 630, you'll lose cover there.

'We have a missing squad in the area that was last reported near the large cut down tree so that should be your first stop, just watch your step. You may have camo armour but these droids are looking for movement, take it slow, just not too slow. We need that intel with the next 48 hours.

'Understand?' I nodded.

'Scout out the area, stay cautious and keep our distance but don't take too long.'

'Good,' Chief turned to the camera crew. 'Turn it off.'

'W-what?'

'The camera, off.' The reporter at the front quickly fumbled with the droid, trying to turn it off to fast enough to get the Chief's gaze off of him as soon as possible. Once the camera was off the Chief tossed me a canister.

'What's this?'

'Armour coating, same stuff we use on ARC trooper and ODST's armour. It helps fool droid sensors but keep your distance, it only helps hide movement so don't get to close that they can sense you in other ways.' With our orders received the Chief dismissed us with a salute, letting us get ourselves ready for the mission. Though the camera crew didn't know what they were doing.

As my group were heading towards the armoury the reporter asked what they'd be doing, during the slow turn of the Master Chief to face the man you could feel his thoughts of _what do you think_. The long stare seemed put the man off but he still didn't seem to get the hint, that they were to be following us. Then the reporter did something I didn't think I would see, he offended the Chief.

The whole camp stopped after the reporter he couldn't go into the wilderness because he had been promised by the Chancellor himself he wouldn't have to, the fact he had _told_ the Chief, basically ordered the man who launched nukes at a fleet and _glassed a planet_ , put a very palpable tension in the air.

I hadn't know the Chief personally for more than 3 days, with barely any time together, but Rex had a lot of respect for the man and had shared some stories with me and the other boys, and from stories alone I knew not even the Chancellor could order the Master Chief, just point him in a direction and watch him go. For some no name reporter with no balls and even less respect to come into a war zone and tell the Chief what to do was an insult that no one here would take lightly.

'What did you say?'

'I, I said we will not be going out there. We have assurances by the Chancell…'

'Do you know where you are?' The Chief was taking slow, deliberate steps towards the reporter, who was suddenly having a new found appreciation for the Chiefs height.

'Felucia.' The shake in the man's voice was like music.

'And who controls Felucia?'

'The Republic?' I winced, bad move.

'If the Republic was in control I wouldn't need to be sending out my _men_ to scout the area, now would I?' The fact the Chief point towards us as he said men put a little puff of pride in my chest.

'The Chancellor runs the Republic, but you're not there now. Now, you're in wild space, where who's in control is decided by who's stronger. Now, you're on _my_ base in the middle of _my_ battle on _my_ planet. And until I have orders that say otherwise from the Chancellor himself, not some two bit hack who doesn't have the nerve of a 9 year old Mandalorian child, your lives mean nothing to me. If your job is to follow those soldiers over there, the ones standing in traditional Mandalorian armour, then that's your problem, because I need them to go and scout out one of the most dangerous regions on _my_ planet and they will do so even if I have to sacrifice you in the process. Your lives mean nothing to me, you _are_ nothing, I fight for Mandalore and _her_ people, not the Republic and theirs.'

'W-w-w-w-we'll j-j-j-just…' The Chief slowly raised his hand, that was in a light gripping motion, and slowly moved it higher and higher. It looked like he was going to grab the man by his neck but he just grabbed the camdroid hovering above him. The Chief then tossed the droid to me.

'No, you won't. I would rather trust my men's lives with a droid then with men like you. You're confined to the base so you can't get any of my men killed. I had expect the Chancellor to send someone competent and with experience, apparently I was wrong.' The Chief turned away from the stammering report, who was busy trying to defend himself and prove he was competent and reported upon many wars around the galaxy, turned to me, telling me I had my orders and to gear up and move out.

So we did.

* * *

Boba POV

Well, the wildlife was… _friendly_. Two completely different plants, one a type of flower and one a type of vine, had tried to hug one of us to death but they seemed easy to deal with, these wrist flamethrowers were going to come in handy. After that we decided to pick up the pace, not wanting any more of us to be grabbed again, and used our jetpacks to take to the tops of these over grown flowers, who were hopefully not carnivorous.

Once we were above the ground I told the boys to save their fuel and use the whip cords to move around. There was a few bumps and bruises from people slamming into tree trunks and ginormous flower petals but pain proved to be a good teacher, if the fact those who slammed into things eventually stopped doing so was any indication.

The Chief had sent us to survey sector 629 a sector that was 10 km wide by 10 km long, 100 km in all. It was a big search area and we still had to get there first.

Over the past two days the combined skill and power of the 501st and the 327th, two of the first Legions to get the new tech overhauls, had been making steady progress after the 501st had helped remove a key droid entrenchment with some much needed orbital assistance. Along with some strategic bombing and landing the reinforcements Republic forces had been able to push our lines further and further into the jungle, liberating a few villages along the way. Currently our forward base was located in sector 377 and we had been pushing up to sectors that numbered around the 550's and 150's, depending on the direction of the map you were going in. Due to our wide coverage and dominance in the air we could move between sectors we controlled with relative ease, with only occasional fighting in the form of guerrilla tactics from Commando droids. There had even been a case involving a HK droid that had stopped a supply convoy on its own, until Jedi Aayla Secura had managed to pull away from the front lines to help relieve her own relief supplies.

We had been offered a ride to the front by some men in an AT-OT but I decided against it, at the complaints of the others. During my retraining with Rex I had noticed a lot of similarities between my own training and the clones, or at least Rex's, the only major differences being the fact that I wasn't trained in military etiquette and the other cadets didn't have as strict a physical training regime as myself, combat seemed similar enough. I wanted to push the other here and now to show them I wasn't going to go easy on them as their leader, that I was going to be the harshest task master they ever had until their dying days. If these boys wanted to continue to have the honour of calling themselves Mandalorian then they would damn well had better be worthy of it.

Besides, 2,000 km in less than two days with little more than whipcords, jetpacks and some hard jogs wasn't impossible. In fact I was sure we could get past sector 600 before nightfall, we would have to if we wanted any chance of winning our bet with those troops on the AT-OT. When they heard where we were going they offered to let us ride along by hanging from our whipcords, like the ODSTs had taken to doing to free up space and transport more troops, I refused and so they mocked me for it. So, I made a bet, me and the boys would not only complete our mission with over 6 hours to spare but we would pass sector 575 before the day was over. We shook on it and was warned by the lieutenant in the transport that I had better make it as he would be asking the Master Chief to make sure.

So that was why we were booking it across several thousands of kilometers of thick forest with carnivorous plants and even worse fauna.

I had only allowed us to stop twice on our journey to eat and drink, a half hour each, before setting up camp when it got too dark to continue. Looking back at the puffing and panting boys carefully balancing on top of a flower petal I felt a sense of pride that they had actually made it. I never felt this when looking at the team of mercenaries I used to lead, it was something entirely new. Rex said something about being proud of his men at one time or another and I guess this is what he meant, the feeling that it was _your_ men that accomplished such a difficult task.

I directed the team into a hole that had been cut out of one of the nearby trees. It seemed to have been a creatures hovel at some point but signs indicated they had long since been gone. I took up first watch, 2 hours, with Jax going second and Whiplash last, we were the least winded and it should let the others get a good rest.

As the other slept I radioed in our position, sector 583, not the 600 I had hoped but more than the 575 I had agreed to in my squads little bet. Still, that was nearly 1,500 kilometers in 20 hours, meaning we had been moving on average somewhere around 80 kph or 50 mph, not bad for some kids on foot. The only reason we had managed to reach those speeds was because Hotshot had been showing off. Rather than sticking to grappling objects and pulling himself to them Hotshot had used his tether to slingshot himself forward. Sensing an opportunity, I pounced, deciding we would be adopting said slingshot method to help increase speed. We were all quickly becoming apt hands at traversing the ODST highway, a nickname from the 327th for moving with tethers and cords. Eventually my watch was over so I made my way over to Jax and shook him awake and settled myself to sleep.

It felt like I had only just closed my eyes when I was kicked awake by Whiplash. He motioned for quiet so I kept silent as I crept up to his position. An Acklay. I remembered the one from the arena on Geonosis, strong legs and a thick hide. There was a stream that ran not too far from our little camp and it seemed to be the Acklay's target. Checking the time I noticed it was nearly time to move, we had to get past the creature or kill it.

'What do we do?' Whiplash was keeping his voice low so as not to draw it's attention. I picked up a piece of loose bark and threw it into as far from the river as I could, watching as the beast head shot up. Well, we weren't sneaking past a creature with such sharp ears. I waited until it went back to drinking before I started to wake the others, I didn't want to frighten them awake with the sounds of gunfire.

I had Whiplash and another boy called Crosshair, both holding Snipers that reached at least their shoulders, take up positions at either side of our entrance while Jax and I were going to make our way across the branch outside. I wanted us closer as we only had DMR's and they didn't have the range of the Snipers.

I gave the boys orders to aim for the joints first, to disable the beast, before concentrating fire on its head. Waiting on my signal the boys didn't fire until my say so. With a quick blast of the comms we took our shots. The two sniper shots were close enough together the creature hadn't flinched in pain until after they both hit, blowing it's front legs off at the joints. Still, that meant Jax and I missed ours when the thing reared back, screaming in pain.

The creature swung round to face us and noticed Jax and I on the branch and charged. Jax moved almost as soon as the Acklay spotted us but I stayed, getting some potshots in at the creature, before activating my jetpack to get out of there. Just in time too considering the Acklay chewed through the thick branch I was just on and the damn thing couldn't even fit its whole jaw around it. Still, the others took the initiative and fired on the beast but they were little more than a nuance considering its thick hide. Noticing the Acklays new source of attention I, having landed on the ground, fired on the creatures exposed underbelly. Deciding the one hurting it was more important then the little annoyances up top it charged at me. Perfect.

Our armour had been designed and modified to look exactly like Mandalorian armour, complete with jetpack and rocket. A fast waddling Acklay that was unbalanced at the front was the perfect target for said rocket. While it hadn't killed the beast it had blown off the other legs and exposed it's insides.

With the Acklay down and writhing we all opened fire and, before too long, finished it off. With that done I took a second to admire our work before leading us of to complete our mission, more confident than ever that we were all coming back.

* * *

Halsey POV

'Now, you're on _my_ base in the middle of _my_ battle on _my_ planet.'

'Rewind.'

'Now, you're on _my_ base in the middle of _my_ battle on _my_ planet.'

'Rewind.'

'Now, you're on _my_ base in the middle of…' The doors slid open.

'Pause.' I turned to look who had disturbed me, Etain Tur-Mukan. She was a hard working girl and was quickly becoming one of my most valued members here at ONI.

Quiet, intelligent, loyal and strong, she was nothing like the rest those cretins the Chancellor had assigned to ONI. The clones were good at their job, needing some guidance from time to time, and the Spartans, the Operators, were the best, no questions asked, but the people assigned to my division were nearly all so close to incompetent that I wished they were, so then I had an excuse for getting rid of them. Thankfully, apart from Zey, Jusik and Tur-Mukan, I had managed to isolate them all within Section 3, leaving the others under my control.

Jusik was put in charge of Internal Affairs and Section 0, he was loyal to Mandalore and our ways so I was more than comfortable leaving him in charge of our Spartan 3's and ensuring everything in Republic controlled territories went as I needed it to. Zey was in charge of Military Intelligence, at least he thought he was but I screened all the information before it landed in his hands, and Tur-Mukan was in charge of propaganda, she had a real creative flare for the art of truth spinning.

I had approved her transfer from Internal Affairs when Skirata had approached me for a favour, transfer her to our Propaganda corp. For a man as proud as Skirata to ask for a favour I knew something was up, turns out our quiet and demure Jedi Knight could be very assertive when she wanted to be, if the fact she had been the one to jump Darman was any indication. Skirata had gone out in the field with his boys multiple times and had eventually adopted Commando team Omega, of which Darman was a member, into his clan which means, as one of his sons baby's mother, he had adopted Tur-Mukan too, seeing as how she was pregnant with Darmans child.

Not that he knew that yet.

normally I would have her dismissed from service or put on leave but I knew all to well what it felt like to watch the man you love go to war when you had a baby in on the way. And I also understood her decision not to tell Darman because I regretted telling Jacob before he left. Not because I didn't want him to know but because he didn't hesitate when leaving. I know he had a job to do, an important one at that, but I expected at least some sense that he cared about us. Watching him walk away with little more than a nod was perhaps the first crack in our relationship. He still cared, of course he did, but I was filled with so many hormones rationality didn't play much of a factor in what I felt. To watch the man you love walk of to war without a war about your growing child, not even bothering to glance down and see if they could spot the tiniest of bumps in you stomach, twisted a knife in my heart. While it had healed over before Jacobs return, which had been after the girls birth, it had left a scar that I never forgot.

Other than as a favour to Skirata I left Tur-Mukan in charge of our propaganda because she was becoming more Mandalorian herself, just taking a bit more time to fully commit then Jusik.

She had come to see what I wanted doing from today's camera footage of John's newest recruits, apparently they took down an Acklay in record time. I told her to cut it out to use later but we would need some more footage before we could make something worthwhile.

'And that?' I turned back to the holo recording of John. Eleven years I have watched him grow from a boy into a man and then a son. For eleven long years I have wait for him to turn from soldier to leader, and soon, to Mandalore. But it wasn't time, not yet

'Take it. Make something that highlights his bond with the men, even the new boys, have it show that he does this for Mandalore and not the Republic.'

'That could annoy the Chancellor.'

'Make it Region Specific, the Mandalore Sector.'

'Of course.' She left at that and I replayed the footage. Region Specific meant that piece of propaganda was only meant to be shown in on galactic sector as it was for the local populace. Satine was still in power but she was getting more and more unpopular by the day, it was time to let our people know they had an alternative.

'Now, you're on my base in the middle of my battle on _my_ planet.' He was close.

I've waited eleven years, John, a few more months should be fine but we are running out of time, fast. A storm is coming and Mandalore must be ready, and we can't be ready if our Mandalore isn't first.


	39. Chapter 39

Ahsoka POV

'I still don't know how you got my master to agree to this.' Currently, I was strapping up my new, custom Mandalorian armour that I would be using for an undercover mission into Death Watch territory. Lord Hood had shown me the interrogation of his new Super Commandos as he wanted to make sure I knew what I would be getting myself into if I accepted the mission to go undercover. If I was found then I would face far worse than what Hood had done to his men. Even knowing this I agreed.

Apparently Hood had already tried to infiltrate the group with some of his own men but they had been caught before even passing preliminary checks, Hood suspected they had spies in high enough places to be able to find out who was sent but they had yet to find out who. Hood chose me as I was a relative unknown, having had barely a mention for my feats over Ryloth and across the war, so with a new name and some orange and white face paints, I would be nearly unrecognisable.

Despite the Death Watch supplying all their troops with armour Hood felt it was best to give me a custom set, to help reinforce my new backstory. I was going in as a lone bounty hunter called Mira Keveer. I had been a small time hunter but had done missions across the galaxy and was looking to join up with the Death Watch as a means to get back at the New Mandalorians.

My code name for the mission was to be Fulcrum, as an added layer of protection only Hood would have the necessary codes to decrypt _Fulcrums_ transmissions.

'I told him the Academy was going on a field trip to Concord Dawn for a week. I then said how you would benefit from going with them.' I put on the helmet, it fits like a glove.

'So you lied.' Hood had one of those little innocent smiles that you knew you couldn't trust. You know, the ones that say _you can trust me. Promise._

'Not at all, you would benefit from being on the trip, I just never said you were going on it.'

'So misdirection then, that's still lying you know.' Hood gave a little laugh.

'I suppose it is, though it is easier than making things up.'

'Still, there's just one thing that bothers me. How did you know my size?' Hood had only taken measurements for my helmet not the rest of the armour.

'I told your Master you would be needing a new uniform.'

'Well,' I looked down at the Kar'ta Beskar, the Iron Heart, at the centre of my chest. 'It is a type of uniform.'

'Exactly. Now, are you ready?' Tapping the Magnum at my side, I nodded. Originally Hood had given me a pair of WESTAR-20 blaster pistols but I only took one. Hood had tried to take my Magnum off me, saying it was a Republic weapon and therefore I couldn't take it with me. I, however, argued that it would only help my credibility as you could buy one on the Black Market for dirt cheap. Besides, Rex gave me this one.

With that, it was time to head to Concordia.

* * *

Ahsoka POV

Due to the fact Hood had yet to get a spy into the Death Watch ranks, I was without a point of contact until I had already established myself in their ranks. From there I would have a handler to help me with anything I needed and an encrypted holocommunicator so I could report to Hood. So, without a clue on what to do it was up to me to get myself into Death Watch. Piece of cake.

Hood had managed to smuggle me aboard a transport ship heading to the moon, meaning I was already in smuggler central. Moving around the nightclubs and bars I knew I needed to find someone with the information I needed and that they would most likely be in a bar, I just had to find the right one. I headed to the first bar I could and whistled loudly, trying to get everyone's attention. That didn't work so I tried shouting, still nothing. Annoyed I pulled out my pistol and shot the ceiling, that shut them up.

'Alright ladies, now that I _finally_ have your attention I want anyone who knows anything about Death Watch to step forward.' It wasn't subtle but then I didn't have time to be, the field trip was only for a week, I needed to be in and out with as much information as I could find on the group within that time. Hence my more… brash… information gathering techniques.

'We don't have nothing to do with them here. Now get out of here, we don't want no trouble from the likes of you.' For a barkeep in mercenary territory he seemed very easily frightened, usually you need balls of steel to run anything round places like this, especially in the Mandalorian sector. Shaking my head I left, heading for the next bar in the area. It was my thinking that if I said I was looking for Death Watch to enough people then either they would find me or someone who hates Death Watch would. Either way, someone who knew something would show up.

Three bars later, and a few bruises from over eager bouncers, and still nothing. Well, not entirely nothing.

'You looking for a fight too.' I turned to the Mando leant up against the wall.

'Funny, I was thinking that's what you were looking for. This is Reclaimer territory, and they aren't too fond of Death Watch.'

'Reclaimer?' The Mando stepped out of the shadows. Golden armour with black trim in a near perfect traditional design, just had a few more bells and whistles than normal armour, especially around the waist. The slim physique and bountiful chest area told me all I needed to know about her gender. It was actually vaguely familiar.

'You really are new aren't you. Come on, if you're looking for Death Watch then I'll take you there, though I can't tell you what you'll find.' With that, the women turned and went back the way she came. Deciding quickly, I followed her.

'Who are you anyway?' Her helmet tilted in my direction but she didn't slow.

'Just call me Kandosii'la.'

* * *

Ahsoka POV

My new guide lead me to this little beat up speeder and drove to a run down space port with a busted old ship waiting in one of the hangars. As we pulled up another woman, in similar armour and modifications, moved up to Kandosii'la's side of the speeder.

'You're late.'

'Sorry, I needed to check something out first.' The woman's eyes turned to me.

'And who's this?'

'The thing I needed to check out first. She was shooting up bars in the Reclaimer district asking for Death Watch.'

'So she's an idiot then. Dump her and get on board we're moving out.' That bitch. Like I was going to let her get away with that.

'It was good enough to get me this far wasn't it.' She stopped. I think she had to take a second to process the fact I was willing to talk back to her but in Lords Hood own words, _cause a commotion_. Considering I was going undercover it might seem a little counterintuitive to draw attention to myself but Hood explained it was more suspicious to go under the radar in a Mandalorian militant force and I should see if I could get myself into a fight or two, I should just be careful whose attention I attracted and who I pissed off. Still, he had a point, it wasn't like Mandalorians were known for being calm and understanding people.

'Perhaps I was too hasty, get her on board, let's see if it was courage you showed today, or whether it was idiocy after all.' With that, she turned and left.

'Who the hell was that?' Kandosii'la turned to me and I could feel the smugness in her voice.

'Oh her, that's just Bo-Katarn, the second in command and the woman in charge of Valkyrie Squadron, the best of the best from Death Watch, women that is, no man can ever become a Valkyrie. If I were you, I would make sure I was better than everyone else around you, Bo's got her eye on you now.'

'Great. Not even a day in and I already pissed off the boss lady and have to work my ass off just to keep my place.' Kandosii'la shook her head.

'Nope, you have to work your ass off to impress her. Not many people have the balls to stand up to her so she'll be looking to recruit you now, you just have to prove your worth.' Shit. Sorry Hood.

* * *

Ahsoka POV

No sooner had the last set of recruits been loaded up did we take off. Now that I was in, or at least nearly in, I felt it was fine to take off my helmet. As I strolled through the hold of the ship, where they'd placed us all, I got more than a few catcalls, apparently these human boys, and a girl in the corner, liked the more exotic species of in the galaxy. The fact I was the only non-human in the group didn't exactly help.

'Hey girl, why don'tcha play over 'ere with us and we'll show you why a Twi'lek loves to be dominated so much.' The boy was one of the few with a full set of armour, we were all under 20 at most and so few could afford to get a complete set. This boy was flanked with two of his cronies and you could tell that his family had money 'cus he obviously hadn't earned his armour, not with how dreadfully underprepared he seemed for a fight, and that was just his stance.

'Pig.' I carried on passed him but he just grabbed my wrist.

'Come on, don't be like that. There was me being nice enough to offer you the chance to make some good, powerful friends and you have to go and be rude like that.' I rolled my wrist out of his grasp and twisted his arm around, pushing it upwards and nearly popping it out of its socket. I then twist my body to face him so I could grab said shoulder and use it to drag him down and slam his face into one of the many crates littered throughout the hold.

Crony one rushed me from behind, trying to punch me in the back of the head, so I dropped into a sweep and took his legs out from under him. Croney two had pulled out his blaster and was starting to aim it at me so, as I was rising back to my feet, I used my forearm to push his blaster upwards. A shot rang out as the bolt slammed against the top of the hold and I grabbed his wrist. With a good pull, I dragged him off balance and slugged him across the face.

I slid the blaster from his hand and, with a pirouette, turned and shot number two in the shoulder, making him cry out in pain. Looking at the floor I noticed number one racing for a blaster that must have skidded across the floor but shot it before his hand touched it, causing said hand to make a fast retreat to its owner.

I scrunched my face up into a sneer and threw the blaster to the side.

'That shit needs recalibrating.'

'W-what?' I looked back at crony one and saw a flicker of fear in his eyes, so he wasn't entirely dumb, but it could hurt to help him out a little could it.

'Hmm, oh, I meant to shoot your hand, though I can't say I'm surprised I missed. I mean, if it missed your friend's chest at such close range there's no way it could have hit you with any degree of accuracy.' I strode forward and crouched down, taking the cronies cheek in my grasp. 'Though I will warn you now, touch me again and I will aim for your balls, and my blasters _are_ calibrated.' I patted the boy on the cheek twice. As I stood up I noticed the Black armoured Mando who had entered the room.

To restrict our movement to the hold, all entrances and exits had two guards posted at them. The guards were wearing basic Death Watch armour of black with blue trim, probably cheap and mass produced. This new Mando wore similar armour just with a few more bells and whistles, dual antenna on the side of his helmet and a cape were the most prominent but he did have some symbols painted on the armour too. Seeing the more unique nature of the armour I figured he was the captain of the ship and decided to address him.

'We're all good now, no need to intervene.' The man just calmly walked into the room.

'Oh I disagreed.' He made sure to give me a deliberate look up and down, the perv, as he stepped closer. 'After all, you just injured my nephew.'

'So you're not just a letch? That's good to know. And what should I call someone of your _esteem_.' He gave a hearty chuckle.

'You can call me Mandalore.' Pre Vizsla. During the cleansing of the government, Satine had been doing she had managed to find how the Death Watch had been circumventing the Mandalorian space patrols with such ease, the man she entrusted with upholding the flight restrictions had been showing them how. Then ONI calls up and goes _hey, congratulations, you found out something we knew for months. If only you had listened._ The Duchess wasn't in the greatest mood from then on.

Still, Mandalore knew he was high up, ONI was then kind enough to tell them he wasn't just high up but running the damn show, but we didn't know what his armour looked like. Until now.

'Funny. As far as I knew one had to be sitting on the throne in the Hall of the Mandalore to be given such a title. And as far as I remember the throne is in Sundari which is on Mandalore and the Duchess currently sits on it, which means, you're not the Mandalore, Pre Vizsla.' His chuckles had turned into outright laughter.

'Bo said you had spirit. What is your name girl?'

'Mira.'

'Mira…?'

'Mira Keveer.'

'I was hoping for more.'

'Small time bounty hunter. Been around the block a time or two but never in the Mandalorian sector. I shoot things, I stab things, I kill things. That good enough for you.' Apparently so. Vizsla just called his guards to take the boys away to the infirmary and left, though not before warning me that eyes were on me now and I had best not disappoint.

* * *

Ahsoka POV

I flopped back onto by assigned bunk and just wanted to sleep. Knowing they were going to be outnumbered, even with droid support, Death Watch had decided to up their game, even for the new recruits. A several mile runs, gruelling obstacle courses and lengthy periods of time down at the shooting range. It wouldn't have been so bad if I could have just used the Force to enhance myself but I didn't want to draw any attention, that said I did use it sporadically to give me a bit more energy but never to enhance my capabilities.

Now the day was over and we had our meal, a dull affair with the other recruits avoiding me, it was time to return to our bunks and sleep, but not for me. Having such a busy day meant I couldn't do what I was sent here to do, discover important intelligence. Pre Vizsla had been taking full advantage of his droid forces and been saving them for guard duty so that every one of the organic soldiers could train during the day and get a good rest at night. Some here and there would still be up through the night but not many, most too tired from being put through their paces by Vizsla.

I waited until the rest of the tent had fallen asleep before I slipped out of bed. I grabbed the bag Hood had prepared for me from under my bed and opened it up. It was just a bunch of clothes, some datapads and throw away trinkets, stuff that would pass a bag search. Still, I took out one of the trinkets and unscrewed the top, pulling out a laser pointer like device. This combined with the sensor from another trinket was supposed to help map out an area in fairly decent detail. The laser pointer thingy, I knew how to use it not what it was, so sue me if I can't be bothered to remember the name, was meant to be aimed at points of interest and would mark them on the map.

Having what I needed I slipped out of the barracks. Taking care to sneak round the back of some of the building I kept half an eye on the droids. I knew how they worked and I knew how to get around them but even a single glimpse of me and the alarms would be up and I was in for some deep shit. I gave myself an hour, I would need to rest if tomorrow was anything like today, and got the outer wall of the compound mapped, though that was the easy part. The droids were on patrols all throughout the compound but the only ones that weren't looking inwards were the ones on the walls.

After sneaking back into my bed I activated my comm and left the channel open for 5 seconds. I didn't have anything to report so there was no point in talking and Hood would have left a blank message if he wanted to contact me. I only called in the first place so Hod could triangulate my position and get me the contact I would need to get me out when this thing was over.

Slipping back into bed I fell asleep quickly. This was going to be a long week.

* * *

Pre Vizsla POV

'Have you decided yet?' I was watching as our new recruits were training but only had my eye on one. Cato, my nephew, had gotten himself a real wake up call when that togruta girl slammed his face into a box and I was more than happy for it, his training had picked up drastically. The girl, however, stood out above all the others. She was fast and fluid, swift and precise, trained and experienced, a Warrior through and through.

'Yes. Give her to me and I can turn her into a Valkyrie, not sure if I can do anything about that mouth on her though.' I laughed. Bo had the right of it, that girl had a mouth on her. Normally that would have just turned us away, loud mouths don't usually last long, but inside that large mouth was a sharp tongue, with a devious mind hidden behind. In fact, I suspected she was only mouthing off to see how we would react, she was testing us, good.

'Well, she's caught your daughter's eye.' Every day for nearly a week Bo-Katan's little girl could be found watching our newest prize. Though I suppose she isn't so little now, being nearly fully grown, though she had been an adult a long time ago.

'Kandosii'la has taken a shine to this Mira girl, though I suspect it's for more personal reasons. A girl out on her own, learning all she can to embrace her heritage, if I had to guess I would say she wants to train Mira herself.'

'Yes, Mira's story is similar to our little Miranda's isn't it?' I could feel Bo's glare on me.

' _Kandosii'la_ , she gave up the name Miranda long ago.' I nodded, just to calm the woman down, she's beaten up more than one person who's gotten to frisky with her daughter or insulted her in some way until Kandosii'la could do it herself. Still, while the girl was useful as Kandosii'la, daughter of Bo-Katarn and soldier of Valkyrie Squadron, she had more use to me as Miranda Keyes, daughter of New Mandalorian Captain Jacob Keyes. When this little cold war ended and the real one began that little nugget of information should be enough to crush Keyes and remove one of their best tacticians for good.

'Well, I think it's time to go pick up your new recruit.' Bo turned around and left, going to pick up her newest member. Little Mira had a long road ahead of her. Soon, she would look back on this first week of training and wish she was still here, at least until Bo's finished with her that is. After all, you either ascend to the heavens as a Valkyrie or you die, there was no other option. Valkyrie was our best-kept secret and I wanted it to stay that way, they trained in isolation and they recruited quickly, before any of the recruits can really stand out. This was so no one would remember those who were selected and, if a recruit didn't pass their Valkyrie training or their final test then they were killed, so no one knew who they were or what they could do. Let's see how this Mira Keveer does.


	40. Chapter 40

Boba POV

'Think that's the giant cut down tree?' I moved my macrobinoculars away from my eyes and turned to Hotshot, staring him down. Felling my trying to burn a hole through his head he turned to me.

'What? It was rhetorical.'

'The next time you think of a rhetorical question, just give us the answer.' I moved back scanning the treeline. Currently, I had perched my squad on top of one of the larger trees and cut away some of the foliage, to get a clear look around. Crasher and Crosshair were both leading their squads around opposite ends of the tree, looking for any sign of our missing squad or the droids.

We had been here for nearly an hour and I was just going to get us to move when Jax spotted something, a flash of white. That spray coating must really work because I was _sure_ that wasn't there last time I check the area but now that I was focusing on it, well, it really stood out. Deciding to get a closer look, the team and I packed up and moved down to the forest floor, being careful not to attract attention. Once we reached the team we saw their bodies had been thrown together, making a pile, obviously they had been moved.

'Shit, the Master Chief never said they were ARC troopers.' Jax had a point. If these guys were just ordinary troopers then it made sense to send us, but these guys were some of the best trained soldiers in the galaxy and wore the same armour spray the Chief had given to me and mine. Then I saw it, a little symbol on the shoulder of one of the troopers.

'It get's worse. That symbol there, that's Alpha, the first letter in an old Taung dialect used before Mandalore the first and taken by the Zhell, Humanity, it is said to be the precursor to Aurebesh. But for an ARC trooper to have it? That means these guys were the best of the best, the first class of ARC's, Alpha class, the ones trained by my father.' That was why this was worse. What was the Chief thinking, sending us? These guys wore 501st blue, not 327th green, he knew what type of troopers these were and how we were nowhere near their standards. So why send us?

The others were becoming more and more unnerved by this assignment, talking to each other and feeding each other's fears, I hear a faint sound and called for quiet. Without the extra noise I could hear it better, marching. Telling the boys to scatter into the underbrush I turned to dive into a hedge but turned too fast. My foot broke through the roots and brambles it had been resting on and I couldn't pull it out.

The droids were getting closer and closer so I decided my best option was to play dead. Grabbing one of the clones I dragged him on top of myself. In the movement, his helmet had come off and I was once again face to face with my dead father. I was starting to hyperventilate, causing the body to move up and down. It was only thanks to Jax's furious whispering that I calmed down and screwed my eyes shut. The droid marching got closer and closer before it finally stopped.

'Hey, I don't remember moving _that_ kind of clone before.' My hand slowly moved down to my sidearm, one of the newer M-series Magnums.

'Shut it would you, you don't even remember how to fire a gun.'

'Yes I do, look.' I heard a blast from one of their E-5 blasters and a clattering of metal.

'You idiot, you aren't supposed to shoot us.'

'Whoops.' With that the patrol continued on. I waited long before I threw off the dead trooper as fast as I dared and grabbed the Magnum, aiming for the side of my foot. I fired a few more shots than strictly necessary, but then I was a little stressed. After finally getting my foot free I kicked the dead trooper further from me and crawled backwards.

When the others rejoined me I ordered Jax to radio in our position and tell the Chief we found his patrol.

'Static.' I turned to Jax, hearing the panic in his words, they must be using jammers. We needed to find the others, fast. Jax and Hotshot moved out eastward, looking for Crosshairs team, while Whiplash and I headed to the west, looking for Crasher. I gave Jax orders to return here once they had found the others. Packing up, we set out.

Because I had given both teams orders to keep an elevated position I felt it best to move along the ground, semi hidden by the plants and foliage, and flash our flashlights on and off into the treetops, waiting for a reply. About 30 minutes in we received our reply, a quick flash from the trees. Whiplash was using his macrobinoculars to see if he could spot the team while I signed out _radio lost, regroup here_ over and over, leaving a pause in between each set. We had joined back up in less than 10 minutes.

After explaining the situation to them we made our way back to the ARC troopers, where we ended up waiting for the next hour and a half, with no sign of Jax. Tired of waiting and conscious of time I gathered the team, leaving one of Crashers team to wait for the others in case they turned up, and set out into the jungle.

It was close to 50 minutes before we caught a glimpse of them so I sent another of Crashers team back to get his team mate. As we moved closer I noticed one of the other group furiously signing for us to get down. We dropped into the underbrush and saw it, another HK unit.

From what I knew, and it was admittedly very limited, the Separatists rarely sent one HK anywhere, let alone two. Something wasn't right around here but at least we knew how the ARC troopers died. I didn't know what to do, we were running out of time, we hadn't gotten anywhere close to finding where the droids in this sector were and we couldn't even get back behind our own lines to radio what we did know because we no longer had any idea where our own fucking lines even were.

After a tense stand off with the HK droid I noticed something odd, it's photoreceptors seemed to linger on us before moving along. No way, they couldn't have!

I told Whiplash to keep his head down and shoot the droid if anything happened to me. Understandably confused, Whiplash could do nothing but watch as I stood up in full view of the droid. Seeing as I wasn't shot I took that as a good sign. Stepping out of the bushes I moved up to the droid.

'Query: Who are you?' So I was right, the droid army had been programmed to recognise Death Watch as friendlies and, seeing as we were in traditional Mandalorian armour, this droid had mistaken us as Death Watch.

'Aaray Fett, Death Watch.' I was taking a gamble but it seemed to pay off.

'Statement: I knew that already. Query: Why are you here?' Now things got tricky.

'We were sent by Vizsla to help out, a show of cooperation, we would have radioed in but our communications have been jammed.' The droid seemed to accept this, though was suspicious of our hiding in the bushes. Thinking quickly I said we were testing out some stolen Republic equipment, a substance meant to fool droid sensors. The droid accepted my answer, having seen what the spray can do on the ARC troopers, and asked if I would like to be directed to the base, to which I quickly agreed and called my squad out of the bushes, leaving Jax and his men still hidden. As the droid turned around and lead us towards its base I signalled to my group _silence, follow me_ and said to Jax's _stay hidden, you exfiltrate us_. He got the message. Following behind the droid I let it take us to their base.

* * *

Boba POV

A foundry, the droids had built a kriffing foundry. Why I don't know. They didn't have any mines in the area to supply the factory so it made little sense for it to be here, seeing as how it was more cost effective to build the troops off world and transport them in the materials to build them here. The only reason I could think off for doing something like this would be to hide the true droid numbers on the planet and to reinforce your army even when you've lost the blockade.

As we were moving through the facility I was taking note of everything around me, mapping all the important parts in my head just as dad had taught me. The main thing I made note of was the command room, we might have to deal with that at some point if we wanted to get out of here.

We carried on past the command centre and were brought up to a set of doors. The droid pulled up to the door and told the boys to wait here as he and I entered the room. When we entered the main thing I saw was a holotable in the middle, with Dooku in the centre of it. I took off my helmet and glared at him.

'Ah, Boba Fett. I was worried when I heard of the death of Aurra sing, I assumed you were killed with her, apparently I was mistaken.' I could see the HK unit's head turn to me. This was going to take a bit of careful planning, some grade A Bantha shit and the old Fett charm.

'It's Aaray now, and I was fortunate to have not been with her when she died.'

'May I ask why? Your father fought against the Death Watch, why join them and why change your name?'

'Because, when the galaxy heard my dad died, and that he died fighting for _you_ , then it was open season on _me_. It wasn't too bad at first, until the bounty hunters started flooding in. Still, I managed to hold them off with help from Aurra, that is, until the Republic came. Apparently dad knew too much and he might have told me, so I had to change my name and join someone to hide myself. Death Watch were the only ones willing to take me.'

We continued this little back and forth for a while, trying to get as much information out of each other as possible. While I had to give up a few stories about my time as a bounty hunter and guess at some things about the Death Watch I had managed to find out what was going on around here.

Dooku knew that Felucia was a lost cause, so he was abandoning it, completely. Apparently the Master Chief had inspired him, he wanted to vaporise the surface of the planet with a fleet twice the size of the one the Master Chief fought to land here. It was said to be a few days out yet but it was coming, and it was coming with 3 Malevolence class ships to disable the Chiefs fleet, whatever they were. When I asked who would be leading such a grand fleet Dooku said it would be a bounty hunter named Durge. I had no idea who he was but he apparently had history with the Master Chief. Dooku's parting words were that he was looking forward to working with me. Funny, I bet he said the same thing to dad when they worked together, and yet he did nothing as his droids did all the work and dad died.

'Why fight so hard for a planet you're just going to get rid of anyway?'

'To keep him here. I want the Master Chief on the planet when I destroy it, I can leave nothing to chance against such an opponent. I am sure even Death Watch have heard the stories of him.' Dooku's parting words were that he was looking forward to working with me. Funny, I bet he said the same thing to dad when they worked together, and yet he did nothing as his droids did all the work and dad died. I would never work with a man who left my father to die.

With that done the HK unit took me back to the rest of the boys.

'So? What do we do?' The droid turned to me and took a second to respond.

'Statement: Your presence here is unneeded. Suggestion: Perhaps you should leave the compound. Statement: Republic forces are nearly upon us, and they will not take too kindly to our presence. Lord Dooku wishes for you to be safe, but what you do is your choice to make.' With that the droid moved off, leaving to ready the defences no doubt.

I told the boys to fan out and map the area, we needed an escape route before we did anything. We broke off into pairs and took different corridors to fully explore this place. I told the boys to do nothing other than explore, we can plan our actions later, and to meet back up in an hour. Whiplash and I moved off down one of the corridors while Crasher and his team mate took another. The first thing I wanted to do was find a way out, obviously, and make contact with Jax, he might have seen something we missed on the way in.

Rather than walls, the compound was hidden to protect it. The foundry had been carved into the back of the tree and extended down into the earth. Its main entrance was hidden under some of the massive roots and down a dirt slope. When the droid lead us into the facility I only saw a few hidden droids and the door before we were inside the compound, nothing else in the way of defences. But before I could be sure I needed to see Jax.

As we moved around the compound Whiplash and I came to a door unlike the others. It was far more heavy duty, seems like a personal blast door of some kind. Figuring that was our best bet I moved to the door control and opened it.

'AHHH, YOU. WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, YOU WERE DEAD.' A B-1 was standing on a balcony, one hand grabbing its head and another pointing to me.

'I'm looking for revenge.' I took a step towards the droid, who took a step backwards. That step sent it tumbling of the balcony, having hit the railing and fallen backwards. As I leaned over to watch it fall Whiplash joined me on the balcony.

'Sometimes, you just have to wonder, why are we having so much trouble with those things?' I snorted.

'You mean why are _you_ having so much trouble with those things, I just got here.' Taking out my flashlight I started to flash it into the trees. After a few seconds I heard the sound of a whipcord slowly descending.

'You sure you should be doing that?' Jax dropped down from the cord.

'I'm fine. You took out one of the few guards they have.' I just gave him a nod and explained we had a problem and that we needed to get in touch with the Master Chief as soon as possible. Though, according to Jax, that shouldn't be too much of a problem as he could hear the sounds of fighting in the distance.

Telling Jax to get back into the trees and wait for us I went back to get the others. Most may decide to do some sabotage or destroy something valuable on the way out but I didn't. For one, we weren't equipped for such a mission. Two, the command centre was too far for us to be able to use what we did have and make it out. And three, we didn't need to destroy anything to get outside. When we met back up I just gathered the men and headed straight for the door Whiplash and I found and signalled to Jax to drop a cord so we could all ascended into the overhanging branches of the nearby trees.

Moving off as fast as we could, the team, finally back together, moved in the direction Jax had said he heard fighting. As we were moving I kept checking the comm, seeing if I could contact the Chief. I finally made contact and told him we had finished our mission, to which we were congratulated, and that I had some top secret information, for him only. Hearing this he directed us to meet up with the main force, that had just finished up a battle a few sectors over, and were to get some transportation back to base. The stern _actually take the ride this time_ sounded mostly in jest, mostly. Still, the boys and I were soon sitting in an AT-OT, heading back to base.

* * *

Boba POV

As we got back to base I let the other clean up and get some rest while I went to meet with the Master Chief. Upon entering the command centre the Chief dismissed everyone but Rex, the two looked to have joined the battle at some point or other but were fine, apart from some mud and a bit of carbon scoring.

I explained to them what had happened, how we got to the mission sector, how we found the compound and how we get into the compound, and that was all before I told him anything about the foundries location or what Dooku had said to me. When I did give the Chief the coordinates he immediately sent out some bombers with bunker busters to deal with it, not wanting to fight in the foundry he settled for just blowing the shit out of it.

When he finally turned his attention back to me I told him about Dooku and the massive fleet Dooku was preparing.

'Do you think he could have been lying?' Maybe? I don't know. I could have gotten things he asked about Death Watch wrong, or he knew I had joined up with the Chief, anything could have happened to set off Dookus suspicion and give me false information. Still, _I_ didn't think he was lying, but I wasn't to sure all the same. Thanking me the Chief let me go, though not before asking for my helmet. Curiously, I gave it to him and left to join the others. I found them in the bunk, laughing and joking. Jax had brought out a deck of cards to play with and Hotshot had snuck in some alcohol he took from the mess. The cooks were going to be pissed when they found out, but we didn't care.

This was the first time I ever did something like this. For the boys it was natural to celebrate, having just completed their first mission with zero casualties, and a it being a mission ARC troopers had failed to complete, but me? I had completed hundreds of missions, with dad and with Aurra, so why was I joining in the celebrations just as eagerly as the rest of them? Why was I roughhousing with Crasher and Hotshot? Why was I happy Jax had put a bet on me rather than the others in this stupid, little, immature fight? I think… I think it was because... this was the first time I ever had any friends to do this with. I loved every second of it.

We had been messing around for sometime, we were too hammered to accurately guess what the time actually was but it was late, when Rex walked in. I just sat on the floor laughing as the others jumped into a mad scramble to hide the cards and alcohol before it occurred to me, I was one of them now. If they got in trouble I was in trouble too. With all the coordination of a lame Reek we shoved our contraband under Jax's sheets and stumbled our way into parade rest in a line so wonky my crosseyes thought it was straight.

'No, please, don't let me interrupt. I've just come to return something.' Rex walked up to me and I gave him a salute, with what I think was the right hand though it could have been left, I don't know. Rex held out something but the colours blended and I wasn't too sure what it was.

'Wazzat?' I looked down at the thing and then back up to Rex.

'Your helmet.' Huh? My helmet didn't have all that blue on it. I put a finger on the pattern that covered the faceplate.

'And dat?'

'A stylised Acklay head. Jaig eyes was originally only given to those who killed one, now with them all but gone Mandalore had them listed as a protected species. Still, you killed an Acklay and so, you get to wear your kill. Oh, and you can put your hand down now as well.' What? Oh.

I finished my salute and took my helmet off of Rex, who gave us all a salute. After seeing my men stumbling into a return salute I _suspected_ Rex only did it to see us try and fail to act like everything was alright but he kept a suspiciously blank face. Then he turned to leave.

'Oh, and enjoy the rest of your celebration, whatever's left of it. And a word of advice, next time you hide alcohol, put the lid back on it.' I was a little confused until we threw back Jax's sheets, soaked through.

'I reckon, we could still drink tha.'

'Shut up Hotshot, and go to bed.' With that the rest of us moved off to our bunks.

'And where am I gonna sleep?' I told Jax that if Hotshot wanted it that much he could take Jax's bunk and Jax could take Hotshot's. After a little fight, Jax had secured his clean sheets and Hotshot was left with his precious, _precious_ alcohol.

* * *

A/N: Now, as some of you know, through PM's with myself, I don't like Author's Notes, however, I feel one is necessary here.

In a few weeks I will be moving house and I have to get things sorted out before I can do that so I will be taking a few days off to get everything ready. I have not abandoned this story, I will be continuing when I can, but I need to do other things as well and this chapter was the last of my reserve chapters, so I need time before I can write more.

I would also like to thank everyone for all the support you have give to me and this story and it has helped me out a lot. I try to respond to as many comments as I can but sometimes I am unable and would like to apologise to those I couldn't get around too, were unable to contact or because I just plain couldn't think of any meaningful thing to say to you other than some meaningless gratitudes that don't convey how much even a single review means to me.

Also, I may need to take a few days off when I actually move into my new place but I will tell you when it happens and if that is the case. Thanks for your support and sorry for making you wait.


	41. Chapter 41

Hood POV

'What do you mean you lost my Padawan?' He was taking it more calmly than I would have, but then he was a Jedi Master wasn't he. I was currently telling Master Kenobi and Duchess Satine about Ahsoka Tano's… _assignment_.

'Technically, we haven't lost her, we just can't get her.' Kenobi didn't seem to agree.

'Doesn't that mean you've lost her?' It was the Duchess who spoke up next.

'And why was she even on Concordia? You said she would be going to Concord Dawn on a field trip. What gave you the right to order her to do anything?' I took a moment.

'Well, for a start, I never said she was going on that trip, just that it would be good for her if she did.' At the Duchess' indignant scoff I hurried to continue, not letting her interrupt. 'Besides… She follows our customs, speaks our language and calls herself Mandalorian. By Republic law, I have every right to command her.' The Duchess once again took the lead, Kenobi more than willing to let her.

'Wrong. By law _I_ can command her. I am the leader of Mandalore, precarious though that position may be, not you. You cannot command her unless given permission by myself.' The Duchess had been removed from matters of state recently, instead working to remove the corruption of her democracy. Not three weeks ago she had managed to finally get her bill passed through her democratic council to form the War Council, with me at its head, but she only managed that by basically making her Democratic Council into the Clan Council, though there were a few exceptions. And with the power back in the hands of the Clans and Houses, well, it wasn't good for Satine. I hadn't the heart to tell her at the time but it seems that now I must.

'I'm sorry Duchess, but I can.' Satine was brought up short and Kenobi had begun to stroke his beard in contemplation.

'What? I am…' I cut her off.

'A placeholder, and everyone knows it. At first, you were a placeholder for the Republic to name a new leader for Mandalore. Now you are the placeholder for a Mandalore. The council has stripped you of all power the moment after they had managed to pass the bill that formed the War Council. They tried to get me to take up the title of Mandalore but I refused. Instead, I am in charge until I name a Mandalore that is then approved by the House and Clan Alors. You have no power to do anything anymore unless I say so. And I have been the one who gave you the power to route out the corruption of the planet. I knew you wouldn't stop until it was done and that you would leave the task of running the state to the council, as you have done before. I didn't have the heart to tell you. Like your father before me, I have been named Warlord until a Mandalore rises once again.'

The Duchess staggered back and Kenobi helped her to her throne, well, my throne, the throne of the Mandalore. It had changed so much since Adonai sat upon it, and it had changed even further since the last time a Mandalore had sat on it. There hadn't been a true Mandalore in over a century. It was more than time for one.

After apologising to Satine for not informing her sooner Kenobi asked for more information on his Padawan. 'Is Ahsoka still alive?'

'Yes. We have been keeping in contact but she is being kept with a group known as the Valkyries. They train in secret and not even their recruits know where. We do know they are Vizsla's right hand, his most trusted warriors, and that they are lead by… Bo-Katan Kryze.' That was another stab to the Duchess' heart, though I suspect she already knew about her sister's loyalties and just didn't want to believe it to be true without proof. Ahsoka has stated that, instead of trying to escape, she wishes to help out further by providing further intel from inside the Valkyries. I have accepted.' I turned to Kenobi

'She left a message for you, telling you not to worry.' I handed the holodisk that I had recorded the transmission on over to Master Kenobi.

With that, I left. The pair had more than enough bad news for the day and need to process it, and I still needed to prepare for the war to come.

* * *

Halsey POV

'How are you?' I was calling John. I know ever since he set foot on Felucia he had been thinking, thinking about the purpose of it all. His purpose. I did, after all, lead him to think about such every time he gave a mission report. A little _that many_ here and a little _so many men for so little_ there and John was beginning to question why the Republic was even sending men to Felucia in the first place, and why his men and their brothers had to be the ones fighting.

'I'm fine.' John, you can't fool me. A mother always knows.

'I've been around enough proud men to knew they only say that when they are anything but.'

'I'm _fine_.' No, John, you aren't. I made sure of that. You're questioning it all, just like I wanted you too.

'Talk to me John.' He took a moment to look at something. From the Hologram I couldn't see whatever it was, plus John's back was to me, but I knew he wasn't truly looking at it. He just needed a backdrop to gather his thoughts.

'Why are we here, on Felucia? It's a backwater world that means nothing to anyone. We don't need it, so why not let the Separatist waste resources keeping it? Dooku's willing to destroy this world just to defeat me, so how much value does it have really have? Why do men have to die for it?' Good. A leader needs to know the why of things otherwise he is just a follower. John was no follower. He needed to see the whys of the war, the reason why it is his men fighting rather than citizens of the Republic and, most importantly, he needs to know why it is him that should decide matters, not the Chancellor.

'Because the Chancellor says so.' John gave a scoff.

'The Chancellor says a lot of things.'

'He does. But you haven't always listened.' That brought John up short and sent the wheels turning in his head. John was a tactician, he planned short term goals and did what he could to achieve it. I needed him to be a strategist. A strategist plans for the long term and John had been relying on others to give him his long term goals for too long now. At first it was me, now it was me and the Chancellor.

John knew the sacrifices on Geonosis were necessary, he knew the Geonosians had to be stopped and that their planet was important, he wouldn't have burnt it otherwise. Felucia was slowly becoming just as costly as Geonosis but he just couldn't see why any of the clones needed to be there. I was pushing John to become more autonomous, to get out of the Chancellor's thumb. And for that, I needed him to doubt the Chancellor's intentions.

In reality the only real reason to fight for Felucia was that it was along a trade route, nothing else. It was costly to hold but it was key in getting to future planets along the route. As I told John this the wheels just kept turning. He had a large fleet coming his way for a very valuable planet along a trade route that we needed to hold to continue this war, any planets beyond Felucia cannot be taken if we don't take this one. The only value the planet had was its location, even then it was only a handful of star systems left until we reached the galactic edge.

John had a choice. Does he burn another planet and leave its husk for the Separatists but risk his fleet in the process, or does he leave such a planet in the hands of the enemy just to save his men?

Normally this would have been an easy choice to John, save his men. But now, not so much. He needed to see the far reaching impact of his actions. If he left the planet we would have to come back later, but only for a small number of planets, it would be costly and the Separatist would have learnt from their mistakes, making burning the planet a good option. It may kill the civilians but they helped and would be killed by the Separatists for it anyway. Glassing the planet would be best. Not even all of it, just most, then retreat when the Separatists come.

As he stood thinking about what he was going to do I saw it. That same flash across his visor when he thought of something bold, daring and utterly crazy, yet somehow the sanest thing to do.

'The planet is too costly to hold, we only give it to the enemy by staying. It needs to be destroyed. But if we stay too long we get caught by the fleet and die anyway, probably before we even finish.' Good, he was starting to get it.

'So what do you do?' It was long past time to stop holding his hand in such matters and let him prove himself. He always excelled at beating expectations, even mine.

'We destroy it and the fleet coming to claim it.' Wait. What?!

'John, you don't have the numbers for that.' I could feel the confidence from here.

'Yes. I do. In the initial stages of Spartan training you taught us all we needed to know about literacy, maths and science. In that you also taught us about space and spatial anomalies.' I was confused. What madness was he thinking of now? Spatial anomalies are called anomalies for a reason, it was unexpected, an accident. You can't cause an accident because then it won't be an accident.

'What are you going to do?'

'Every system from here to the core that is along the Perlemian Trade Route is ours and everyone from here to the edge is theirs, right? Well, what happens if we cut them off from Felucia? We isolate them.' Just what was he getting at?

'John... what are you going to do?' His pause felt like an eternity.

'I'm going to kill a star.' It took a moment, I will admit, but as I final grasped his thinking, a grin stretched across my face.

* * *

John POV

Preparations were going well. Currently, nearly 80% of all ground forces were off the planet and we had 4 broadswords prepared for the mission. Right now, I was just trying to help some of my officers understand it all.

'One more time, please. Some of us weren't trained in this sciency bullshit.' I could understand Rex's confusion. The Felucia system had 5 planets, of which only Felucia itself was habitable. The most important thing was the fact that the star of the system was a white dwarf. A white dwarf was a star in the final stages of dying and can, under the right conditions, become a supernova. One of those conditions happens to be the addition of nuclear material to reignite the star which causes the existing material in the star to explode. I suppose there was something to be said for using a Nova missile to cause a supernova.

From there the explosion will destroy all the planets within the star system and cause a gravitational wave that will spread throughout the galaxy. This gravitational wave will cut off all travel to or through this system. The Separatist remains of the Perlemian Trade Route will be cut off from the rest of the galaxy as Felucia is the only charted route to those systems.

While the surge will be a relatively minor thing to the rest of the galaxy, some minor planetary shifts, it will be near impossible to travel through the Felucia system for anywhere between 1 year and 10 years. This is because of the greater force of gravity and the residual nuclear matter from the explosion being so condensed in this area of space.

'Are we playing a game of one-upmanship? First, we glass a planet. Then, we blow up a star system. What next? Set the galaxy on fire.' Rex's concerns were valid.

'Oh don't worry about that. Mandalore the Ultimate did that already.' Rex wasn't amused, and I would admit it wasn't Cortana's best. Still. I turned to Yularen for an update on the evacuation. We had an Acclamator on the ground loading the troops, with Aayla Secura herself overseeing the loading. Yularen says she should be done in about 10 minutes. Though if the klaxons meant anything then I doubted we had that long.

The Separatist fleet was ahead of schedule. They had 30, 40, ships. Maybe more. I order Hawk to send out his four fastest pilots to deliver the payload into the star. Like the good commander he was, he volunteered to go but I stopped him, I needed him here. I order all fighters with hyperspace capabilities to deploy, and only them, we didn't want anyone who could make it out on their own getting trapped out there. General Secura was to get in the air as soon as possible and we would wait for as long as we could. All ships were to plot a hyperspace course to the nearest Republic military protected system but were only to begin their jumps when their shields dropped to 25%. It would weaken us bit by bit but the fleet would survive.

Separatist forces opened fire as soon as they entered the system, and we fired back. Our attacks barely did anything when up against their fleet but we still tried. We already had two ships jump when I noticed the Malevolence class ships moving into Ion firing position. Secura and her Acclamator were only just exiting orbit and weren't ready to make their jump. I couldn't wait.

I ordered the Broadswords to deliver their payloads into the star and for the fleet to jump. We were in hyperspace before they had even fired. Upon exiting hyperspace I called for a status report. Minor damage across the fleet, some ships with major damage to the hull but key systems were fine. We had only lost one ship, General Secura's Acclamator.

* * *

Durge POV

This deal with the Separatists was getting worse as time went on. Still, it wasn't like working with the Republic or on my own was going to be any better. The Republic was rearming the Mandalorians and working on my own had proven itself to be a wrong move twice now.

Dooku had given me command of the largest fleet within the Separatist navy, with the greatest ships too. I didn't know the numbers, not much caring for such things, but I knew that today we would kill the Master Chief and my honour will be restored.

I had tried to go after him many times over the past few months but Dooku had me elsewhere. At first it was learning all the things I had missed in the past century of Mandalorian evolution, I need to know my enemy to kill them, Then it was learning the basics of command, something I had never done before in all my centuries.

Next, he had me leading droid forces all over the galaxy. From campaign to campaign, but the Master Chief had remained elusive. At times it seemed even he did not know where he was going, just appearing in places and killing the enemies there. It only helped to grow his legend.

The Demon, The Devil, he wasn't like the other Spartans, everyone could tell. He was better, faster, stronger, and had an army at his back, his Blue Eyed Imps. The Hellish Legion. I don't know how much of the stories are true, about his monstrous strength that could rip apart tanks, or his blistering speed which could outstrip a landspeeder. Some even said he was unkillable, that not even bombarding him from orbit could kill him. Stories, told by frightened Nerf's. But still, they had some truth.

Today, I had finally been given the honour of killing him once and for all. Dooku was getting worried about him, and not just his physical presence. There had been a marked improvement from clone forces since the last Battle of Geonosis. They seemed inspired by him and, even when trapped in a corner with no way out but surrender or death, they only fought harder. With no one surrendering, we couldn't extract information from prisoners. We had to forcibly capture some but soon learnt not to put them with others, as they would help each other die to stop us from torturing them. It wasn't even a cowardly choice, they did it for _him_.

Eventually we had to isolate them, which just resulted in troopers trying to bite their own wrists and bleed to death. We finally managed to keep some caged and restrained and learnt why they would go so far. They were fanatics. Apparently they had been told by someone they called Mother Whisper that the Gods had sent forth a saviour to purge the galaxy of filth, alongside his brothers and sisters. The Master Chief and the Spartans.

This Mother Whisper had also predicted the fate of Geonosis and spread this as a prophecy amongst the clones. With this _Geonosian prophecy_ coming true they grew more fanatical, some took it to greater extremes, but even those of more sound mind still saw the benefit of taking their lives, to deny us even the smallest victory. We finally managed to keep some alive long enough to be questioned. When questioned as to why, even those who didn't share their brother's extremist views on the Gods would go so far as to kill themselves, they said they were born and bred to fight and die for a higher purpose, some for Gods and some for the Republic. Either way, our prisoners all tried to kill themselves, with only a few exceptions, most likely due to such similar DNA, mindsets and training.

These Mando's were all batshit crazy. They had no fear of death, and while not exactly embracing it, they did take it too lightly.

That was why killing the Master Chief had become so important. With the Chief dead we break the entirety of the clone army and are given free reign to storm across the galaxy. When the Master Chief dies that will mark the beginning of the end for Mandalore, and my name will go down in history as the greatest hunter to have ever lived.

As soon as we entered the system I ordered all ships to fire on the ships and for the Malevolence's to charge their Ion cannons. In less than a minute the sheer overwhelming force of the fleet had caused two ships to flee. It took me a second but I realised that meant they had already made preparations to leave, they knew we were coming. It seems Dooku had reason to have been cautious.

Something was wrong though. If they were already prepared then why hadn't they already left? I noticed the cruiser leaving the planet and smirked. It seems even the Devil himself had compassion. It would only get him killed, as I was about to prove.

Just as the Malevolence cruisers were getting into position the rest of the Master Chief's fleet jumped to hyperspace. It would seem he isn't as compassionate as first thought. It doesn't matter. We can track his movements and follow him across the galaxy, he'll run out of power long before my fleet is in danger.

As I turned to order the last cruiser to be destroyed a droid told me they were getting some odd readings from the sun. I gave the order for the fleet to engage the cruiser while I asked the droid what was so odd about the readings. Apparently there was an explosion at the star's core, caused by some remaining Republic forces.

It didn't take long to happen. First the star expanded before seeming to collapse in on itself. It seemed to pulsate at least twice before violently exploding outwards. We were hit by some type of wave, which was swiftly followed by the explosion. To so callously destroy an entire star system. He really was the Devil.


	42. Chapter 42

Ahsoka POV

A fist thundered towards my stomach and I was too tired to stop it. I dropped to the floor gasping and begging for air.

'Get up.' Kandosii'la was the meanest bitch I had ever laid eyes on and I let her know it. I staggered to my feet and was rewarded with a cross to my check that dropped me to the floor again. Another command to rise and another fist at me, which I blocked and countered. Catching mine, she threw and another two into my stomach that left me coughing up my own blood on the floor. Well, at least blue went well with orange and white. 'That's enough for today. Get yourself cleaned up.' Thank the Gods. Shit. I've been spending too much time around the troopers if I'm praying to the fucking Gods, I would need to watch out for that.

Still, I picked myself up and went to my room. Each recruit for the Valkyrie's was given their own room with kitchen and bathroom. It was only a small one of each but that was more than enough for me. As I entered my room I quickly unclasped my armour and peeled off my shirt, the blood making it stick. Earlier we had been training with knives. Kandosii'la had slipped past my armour and stabbed me in the side of the stomach. It was a small wound but we had gone straight into hand to hand training after slapping a bacta patch onto it.

Once I got my shirt off I couldn't help but moan in relief, it felt that good. Next came my trousers. I bundled them up and shoved them into the cleaner so that they would be ready when I was finished in the refresher. When I turned on the water I couldn't help myself again, the temperature was perfect.

As I looked down at the different bruises and cuts that covered me I couldn't help but think back to Hoods words about not drawing too much attention. Considering I was picked for the Valkyries and was the only one being personally trained by one of them then I can safely say I failed in that regard, which brought more than a few problems.

Number one was extraction. I was supposed to be out of here days ago, but Valkyries trained in secret and all recruits were blindfolded before arrival. I was cut off from whoever was supposed to help me get out before I even had the chance to meet them, let alone actually get out. Now I was trapped in this training facility and haven't seen the light of day since arriving.

Number two was contacting Hood. While everyone got their own rooms and I didn't have to sneak out to contact him anymore I was under no illusions as to the privacy of said rooms. Not even the bathroom was safe, at least that was my guess. I was just thankful for the jammer.

I could only use it in the bathroom as it was the only place I had any real excuse to use it. To use it in the bedroom would just result in a search and the comm and my lightsabers being found where as if I used it in the bathroom anyone who confronted me would basically be admitting to spying on me naked, thereby justifying my reason for having the jammer in the first place. I was just glad Hood had encrypted the holograms of the transmissions too, mine showing Hood's Shriek Hawk to me and him only seeing a symbol based on my facial markings to him, I did only have a towel after all.

The back and forth was the same as it had been for the past two weeks of being here. Is there anything new to report? No. Any changes around the facility, new staff or items? No. Why are you calling? Just letting you know I'm alive. Well, it wasn't _quite_ like that, it was more civil for one and more fleshed out for another. Still, once I reported in I went to bed.

Rising, I did the same thing I had done every day here, I put on my armour. I double checked the hidden compartment on my greaves to make sure that my sabers were still hidden and snatched up my holocommunicator, not wanting to leave them behind in case of a room search.

I headed on down to the mess hall to get my breakfast and saw I was one of the first ones up, as usual. I liked the quiet, and not getting close to any of them would make leaving easier later. Besides, it wasn't like I was the most popular person here seeing as I was the only one getting personal one on one training with a member of the Valkyries, let alone one as high ranking as Kandosii'la.

Once done I scraped off my tray and put the items I had used into the trays left out for dirty things, just a little thing to help out those who were washing up. Moving out of the hall I wandered the corridors for a bit. I had seen it all already, and it wasn't anything was particularly eye catching or visually pleasing, but I still liked to move about. For one, it was a nice thing to do to clear my head and it gave me an excuse for snooping around.

Soon my feet carried me to the training room I used with Kandosii'la. Upon entering I noticed her standing off to the side. Curious, she usually stood in the centre, ready to begin as soon as I arrived.

'What's up?' It was a little casual for a superior officer but then a true Mandalorian military is very lax about such things, not even have proper rankings just the person in charge and whoever they say we have to listen to forming the ranks. They then choose who everyone under their command has to listen to, and so on and so forth. It was a rather fluid thing.

'We have an assignment. What do you know of Onderon?' Onderon?

'Not much. We fought with and against them in the Mandalorian Civil war, keep to themselves and have a group of warriors known as Beast Riders.' She gave me a nod.

'That about covers it. Currently, we don't have enough men to take on Mandalore, we have the more seasoned warriors but we also have some new recruits. The droids will help but we aren't getting any more. Then there's the fact more and more of the old New Mandalorian veterans are returning to Mandalore. Pre has come to an agreement for some more droids and Onderon Beast Riders to support our take over so long as we help them with theirs. The current ruling monarch is on our side and allied with the CIS but his reign is being challenged by the former monarch he deposed. People don't recognise his rule and several rebel cells have popped up, and we are going to clear them out.'

'I thought I was just a recruit?' Apparently not. Kandosii'la informed me that I was better than all the other recruits, high praise from her, and they needed everyone they could get, so I was on the team. She had told me to go back to my room and get ready, but I saw it for what it was, a trick. One of Kandosii'la's favourite sayings, as she beat me into the ground, was that a Mandalorian should be ready for anything, if I went back to my room to get anything then I wasn't ready to be either a Mandalorian or a Valkyrie. I was more than ready.

* * *

Palpatine POV

'You're telling me the residual radiation from your use of the Nova missiles against the Separatist blockade caused the White Dwarf to go supernova. And that it just so happened you were already preparing to leave and the Separatist response fleet arrived in the system just as this was happening.'

'Yes, sir.' I had to give him credit, he had a mean poker face. To get a better read on the Master Chief I had him remove his helmet for our little face to face report on Felucia, I didn't believe this to have been an accident at all and I wanted to see if he would give anything away with his face.

Losing a Jedi General wasn't too big of a deal and the Chief hadn't lost too many men, in fact, those two problems evened out as I just gave the Chief command of the remains of the 327th, they had been severely depleted anyway. The real loss was the Separatist fleet. Dooku had a lot to answer for. He knew of my interest in the Chief and still he defied me. I suppose that was in keeping with Sith tradition but that didn't mean he would escape punishment, that would only happen if he had gotten away with it.

Still, credit again goes to the Chief, he killed an unkillable being and wiped out the largest Separatist fleet, taken several planets away from the Separatist agenda and dealt with one of the most troublesome and costly battle grounds of the war all in one fell swoop. The only problem would be the Senate.

Thanks to reports provided by Dr. Halsey and ONI, suspiciously fast reports, that stated an unforeseen phenomenon tore through the system I could quell most of the senators. Some, however, would have a problem simply because it was the Master Chief who was in the sector at the time of the explosion and his past with Geonosis, nevermind the fact that it was General Secura's sector, at least on official reports. I was sure Halsey was already altering everything that needed to be thanks to our access to the Holonet, just to make sure no nosy busy bodies would stumble onto something that would unravel this little bend of truth and find out about the Nova missiles. Thankfully no one can take actual system reading due to it now being untraversable. I would have to set a meeting later to address the senate at another time.

Now I moved onto Dooku's reports, at least he was still reliable for that. It seems that Death Watch was getting restless. Hmmm. Death Watch was a tricky situation as I needed the Master Chief to deal with them personally but hadn't been allowed to send Republic troops to Mandalore. They seemed to be heading for Onderon and I toyed with the idea that maybe I should send the Chief, create a bit of conflict between the two and stoke the fires between them, but thought otherwise. It would be best to allow Death Watch to grow some more so they could give the New Mandalorians a fight. The bigger the conflict the more desperate people become, the more desperate people are the more devoted they become to their saviours.

It was best to let Death Watch do as they please for now, the Master Chief will come for them soon enough. In fact, it would probably be best to give him and his men some leave at the moment, let them rest before the conflict to come.

* * *

Dooku POV

I was surrounded by fools. Grievous had his ups and downs but seemed to be on a bit of a spiral at the moment, it was past time he turned it around and won a battle, a few minor skirmishes here and there don't count.

Ventress was just as useless. We needed to turn this around and fast. Luckily we had an inside man with access to everything we need, my Master. Our next target should more than get things moving. I had been sitting on this information for a while now but feel this would be a good time. Republic forces had been stretched thin and the Master Chief was on the opposite side of the galaxy. In fact, nearly all of the Republic's best generals and heroes were, it was the best time to attack Kamino.

Not only would we be dealing a massive blow to the Republic that would put us back on relatively even footing, I know my Master has other facilities to compensate for any of his losses on the planet and we deal with ONI high command, who had been proven to be far too effective for my tastes.

I decided it was time for some new blood to take the reigns. Of course Grievous and Ventress would be taking part in the assault, they were some of the best fighters in my employ, but I decided to give command of this highly important mission to a Shonn Volta. Volta had proven to be a very effective naval commander and would be needed to push past the Republic's fleet over Kamino. From there it would be up to Grievous to cause as much damage as possible and for Ventress to steal Jango's DNA, not only to stop them making more clones but to see what we can do with some unaltered Fett clones. Death Watch may appreciate some if we can make a few of them in time for their fight against the Mandalorians.

Though this still left two major problems. The first was Skywalker. He had really come into his own in this war and had proven to be a startling nuisance for someone so young. This new legion of his was a problem as well. It, with Skywalker at its helm, had been blasting through everything in its path, even civilians. Force had been unable to slow him down, let alone stop him. Although, perhaps he could be turned. I had turned a number of Jedi to my cause in recent months, one even being Master Quinlan Vos, so it wouldn't be impossible to turn such an aggressive Jedi who seems to care so little for people's lives, not even his own men if some reports are to be believed.

The next, and perhaps the biggest problem, was the Master Chief himself. For one he was basically untouchable due to my Master's protection, if I wanted to get rid of him I would need to do it quickly. Durge seemed eager to get his own back and had been training hard to defeat the one who had humiliated him so he had gone in kill the Chief. Thinking about it I would have to check back in with Durge later, as I had yet to hear from him.

The Master Chief was also one of the most unorthodox commanders I had ever seen. When faced with an impenetrable fortress filled to the brim with legions of battle droids he takes ten good men and climbs over the wall and wins. When he is confronted with a rebellious population he burns the planet's surface. He comes and goes as he pleases and I suspect not even my Master can make him do something he doesn't want to do. By the Force, he took boys into a warzone. Yes, I knew where Boba's loyalties truly now lie. Death Watch would never have kept quiet if they had the son of the previous Mandalore backing them, it would have brought a lot to their cause.

All in all, the Master Chief was a problem and would only stop being one when he was brought into the fold, maybe not even then.

* * *

Halsey POV

'The cogs are turning faster and faster. Are you sure you can keep up?' I didn't know he was so concerned.

'And you care because…'

'You have yet to hold up your end of the bargain.' Indeed, that was the case, but the timing had to be just right. I couldn't just drag him away from the 501st, I would need a solid reason that no one could argue against to bring him here, if I wanted to keep it a secret. Something I very much wanted to do.

'And neither have you, as I recall.' The dark, smokey chuckle that followed sent a shiver down my spine.

'That is true. But then I need you to finish first, before I can begin. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I'm not in any real shape to influence anything at the moment.' I turned around to face my partner.

'I suppose not, Darth Bane.' The red pyramid pulsed. Don't worry so much Dar'Jetii, you'll get what was promised soon enough.


	43. Chapter 43

Ahsoka POV

Onderon was a dirt ball mixed with trees, and the wildlife wasn't much better. I wasn't a part of the meeting with King Rash, the tentative leader of the planet, instead, I had been given leave to explore the grand city of Iziz. It, like all cities on the planet, was walled to keep out the wild creatures out. Those that were in the city were all kept in what was know as the Meat District, named because you can buy the meat of the animals that were too difficult to tame and were butchered, and because it wasn't uncommon for someone to end up as creature food if they weren't careful.

I decided to head on over the little corner shop the king had been given us to set up in. Due to the fact we would be traversing the wilderness in search of these rebels, apparently the city was more dangerous for them then the wilderness, go figure, Bo-Katarn had decided to bring in some creatures of our own to teach these Onderonise what true monsters were.

As I entered the shop I took great amusement in the seeing some of the screwed up faces of some of the Death Watch males. Strill's were some of the most intelligent creatures in the galaxy and were vicious little creatures from Mandalore, though we had migrated several of them to Concordia and other Mandalorian territories in the past due to their use. They had 6 legs and were generally seen as ugly beasts, what with their floppy, leathery skin. I don't know, I quite like them. The best thing about them is that most they release a pungent and revolting odor that can only be smelt by humanoid males. Bo-Katarn had made them the official animal of Valkyrie squadron and every member had their own. It also helped that, while sometimes overly aggressive, they were very loyal and often gave their lives protecting any and all infants or pregnant females of all races, a byproduct of their hermaphrodite nature.

I named mine Aruetii. It meant traitor or outsider. Aruetii was a runt of her litter and was constantly being pushed about by other Strill's, making her an outsider, and was abnormally friendly unless provoked or ordered to attack. Due to their long life spans Aruetii had already had one owner she outlived. As I was filling in the woman's position in the Valkyrie's I had been granted ownership of her Strill. Kandosii'la had given me a full list of Aruetii's commands for me to memorise that would allow me to control her. It was the same set of commands used to train all the Valkyries Strill's as part of their standardised training.

'Aruetii, come.' She came running at me and jumped into my arms. I staggered back a bit before managing to recover. Strill's grew to around 1 meter long, over 3 foot, she making her over half my height already. Luckily she wasn't too heavy but her size made it hard to hold her up.

Once she had calmed down enough to let her go, I dropped Aruetii and left the little shop. Most people on the street were weary of Aruetii, and for good reason, no one wants to mess with a beast from Mandalore, not even Beast Riders. I decided to have a look around some of the other beast stables. From the reports that King Rash had given us these rebels of his had some Beast Riders of their own. That would just make hunting them easier. Give a Strill a beast sent mixed with human and off we go.

Still, I wondered what Hood was doing about all this. I didn't have the chance to contact him directly so I had instead activated my holocommunicator and covered the emitter with my hand. It had been extremely hot but that was much better than being caught. I hadn't had the chance to actually talk to Hood since that so I didn't really have a clue what his plans were, but I was sure he would take advantage of this opportunity somehow.

As I moved through the pens I saw animals from all over the galaxy. The Republic had put a ban on the sale of dangerous creatures but, just like how Mandalorian citizenship was unique to our culture, things were a bit different on Onderon. They did have some restrictions and sanctions on creatures but they generally let allowed the trade of more dangerous beast than anywhere else in the galaxy that wasn't a black market. Gundark's, for example, are a level 3 classification dangerous beast according to the Republic. If you were caught with or trading a Gundark you would probably serve a 5 year sentence, the higher the classification the longer the sentence. Onderon allowed level 3 beasts be sold without even having a permit, though one was needed for a level 4 like a Rancor, you just had to be careful when taking them off world as you would be back under Republic law then and they said no one was allowed anything above a level 2, and you needed paperwork for them.

A creature with level 1 classification was a slightly dangerous beast that had been trained or was a beast of burden like a Reek, meaning they helped sentient species perform certain tasks. For a creature to be classified as a level 1 dangerous beast the owner needed a certificate of training that one could get by passing certain tests for an official from the Republic Creature Classification Organisation, the RCCO, though most called it Rocc. Members of the RCCO could be quite touchy about the nickname though, not liking people take the piss out of them and their work.

Normally the Rocc let level ones be traded on open markets, with a few exceptions, this meant tamed beasts like a trained Strill, you just had to have the certificate which you handed over to the new buyer upon the sale of the beast. Wild or newborn Strill had a level 2 classification due to them being a mild threat to sentients. To sell level 2 beasts, for things like training, one needed a permit and could only sell to a being who held a level one certificate, in other words, a person who knew what they were doing.

I saw some Anooba's and Kalaks, Rancors and Mustafarian Lava Fleas. The whole trade of exotic and dangerous animals had made Iziz a very wealthy city, and this, in turn, made Onderon very rich. Due to the lax animal trade laws, Onderon attracted a lot of criminals who were looking to quickly find a dangerous beast to buy or sell. Smart criminals stayed away from Onderon for just this reason. Because, while you can purchase the beasts and own them legally on the planet, that doesn't mean any laws you broke off world, even owning the beast you bought on Onderon, were wiped from your record, which made Onderon a good place for would be bounty hunters and even the occasional seasoned vet. That's why I did find it too surprising when a guy looking at a Kinrath froze upon seeing me and Aruetii.

I did take offence when he pulled a blaster on me though.

The panicky man fired wildly into the air, hitting at least two civilians. I charged at him as fast as I dared to and dodged his blaster, that was swinging round to my face, knocking it from his hand. I punched him in between his ribs and was sure I had left a bruise. Not wanting to spend more time with him than I had to I decided to use Crucitorn. I ramped up his pain sensors to an absurd degree that left him curled up in a little ball on the floor. Thinking back to the people he just shot I slammed my foot into his head and ramped up the pain up again. I repeated this process all over his body until he was unconscious, though I had some trouble making myself stop using Crucitorn even then. I hadn't used this since my spar with Serra, making this the first real time I felt the addictive power of this technique.

The beeping of my comm brought me back to reality. Bo-Katarn was calling us all back in. We were going hunting and I didn't know what to do. For the first time ever, I was on my own with no idea what to do. I didn't have a problem killing men like the one at my feet but killing people who were just fighting for their freedom felt a little too much like murder to me. I wanted to run but knew I couldn't, Hood was counting on me.

I wasn't the last to arrive, nor was I the only one with a Strill, most having brought theirs with them while some were going back for all the rest. Bo-Katarn felt it was best to fill us in while we waited. She had finally secured King Rash's help and he would be providing some of his men to help us complete our mission. The man leading this group was a General Tandin. He was an experienced officer, if the king was to be believed, who had spent the past two months searching for these rebels without much luck, only finding abandoned rebel camps. His mount of choice was a Ruping but most of his Riders had Tee-muss'. These were relatively harmless creatures but made excellent battle mounts. Onderon Beast Riders had long since abandoned riding carnivores into battle as they found it often lead their Riders being exposed as the beast fed on its kill, rather than moving to the next target. They did bring along some tamed Nexu's mind, but they were going to be let loose without mounts to devour the rebels when we found them.

Due to their extremely potent sense of smell, we were using the Strill's to track the rebels. Tandin said his main problem was he was facing other Beast Riders that knew Onderon war beasts as well as he did, meaning they knew how to cover their tracks and scent. Strill's should be fine though. Mandalorians weren't a particularly sharing group, we didn't even let anyone learn our language unless they were planning to become one of us, so the rebels shouldn't know how to overcome a Strill's nose. In fact, we had to try and cover the Strill's scent from their noses.

We set about giving all the animals a dirt bath. A dirt bath was just a term for saying using dirt instead of water to clean something, a little counter intuitive but it was a very effective method for cleaning creatures whose fur have high water retention or that had evolved without a large body of water to clean themselves with and so used dirt instead. Strills and Nexu didn't take dirt baths and they certainly didn't like them either, as many of us were finding out. Once we _washed_ the beasts we set out.

Bo-Katarn had given me a Westar 36-B2. It was a new type of rifle from famed Mandalorian weapons manufacturers Westar. Westar was famed throughout the galaxy for having a level of quality that just wasn't found anywhere else and, as said before, they didn't share with any none Mando's. They were a highly valued weapon on Mandalore and were worth even more on the black market. Because of this Westar only let individuals buy a small handful at any one time, exceptions only being made for licenced weapons dealers based in the Mandalorian sector. You even needed a citizen ID to purchase one. Due to their limited availability, Pre Vizsla had restricted distribution to his top tier groups, like the Valkyries. Getting my hands on one was glorious, it was a shame it was a rifle and not a pistol. Thankfully I still had my Westar-20 pistol from Hood, I was just being greedy and wanting a better model.

I had spent some time camping out in the wilderness with both Skywalker and Obi-Wan. The difference between then and now was I did it as a commander and hadn't experienced life as a camp recruit before, I would have to apologise to some of the troopers when I got back. Fetch this, fetch that. It was exhausting to say the least. Then you had someone like Kandosii'la who enjoyed messing around with me and sending me on stupid errands. When she sent me after her rifle sling lube I had decided I had enough, I wasn't kriffing born yesterday. I plastered a smile on my face and went on my merry way and decided to go grab some of the field rations so I could finally have something to eat. It wasn't as good as the cooked meal Kandosii'la was keeping me from but at least it was something.

As I was eating I realised something profound, revenge was a dish best served cold. A sinister grin spread across my face, one of those grins so sinister that it looks innocent and that just makes it worse. Looking around the camp I found some industrial solvent and headed to Kandosii'la's tent. It was considered highly disrespectful to wear armour or carry a weapon when eating in Mandalorian culture as it said you didn't trust the people you were eating with. So, knowing her guns and holsters were in her tent, that's where I went. She had them propped up against her cot so I took out her guns and lined the holsters with the solvent and put them back. I then replaced the solvent and waltzed back to the campfire.

When I got back Kandosii'la and her little clique of friends were all laughing at me until they noticed my smile. 'What did you do?' I just kept smiling.

'Well, I figured I'd go one step ahead and made sure to lube up your holsters before you asked me to do it. I made sure to be thorough.' I had never seen someone jump out of their seat so fast. I just grabbed my, now cold, dinner and nodded sagely to myself. Yes, revenge was best cold even if dinner wasn't.

Kandosii'la walked back with her holsters in hand, fuming. I just carried on smiling. 'What. Did. You. Do?'

'I used that industrial level stuff. You know, the one made by that company, Solvent.' The little eye twitch was more than worth the beat down I'd get in our next training session. The fact Bo-Katarn invited me over to sit with her for the rest of the meal was just the icing on the cake. I even knew I was safe from retribution. Mandalorians were big on respect, if you mess with someone it was because you didn't respect them. If they had the balls to stand up to you or get you back then you gave that person a bit of respect and it ended there, so long as neither party was particularly malicious in their little jokes on each other.

I was safe so long as I don't train with her again.

* * *

Hood POV

I was having a meeting with the war council today about what to do about Onderon. While I did have the power to make this decision on my own I felt it best to get the others thoughts about what to do, it would affect us all after all. I was in favour of taking advantage of Death Watch's reduced presence and setting up a foothold on Concordia, with some help from some of the friendlier locals. Some of the other members were in favour of military action on Onderon in support of the rebels. A fair move, I was just concerned how we would look in the eyes of the Republic if we installed a sympathetic government on Onderon when we had complained about Republic interference in our own government. Still, there was always a more covert action. Beast Riders were still well respected in the Mandalorian sector and I wasn't too keen on fighting against some of them.

'What about getting the Republic to deal with them? Onderon is a contested planet, at least politically, perhaps they could be convinced to do something.' I shook my head. After all the fuss we made about not wanting Republic intervention running back to them to deal with the Death Watch members on Onderon seemed like another hypocritical move.

In the end, after much debate, I decided that it would be best to see if we could drum up some local support on Concordia while also taking steps to fortify the other Mandalorian worlds like Concord Dawn or Kalevala. I would also need to contact Halsey. I couldn't let Onderon go unchallenged but I also couldn't make an overt move to attack or side with the Republic, Halsey would be more discreet.

With the meeting concluded I went to wish Kenobi a farewell. He had been called back to the front to retake command of his legion, without his Padawan. After Kenobi explained the situation to the council I had been _summoned_ to a meeting with them. Jedi are a very pretentious lot. I had put it off for two days, making sure to inform them that they operated on my time, I didn't operate on theirs, before finally calling them. After a brief standoff, where I informed them of my rights to commanding my citizens how I wished and them claiming, as Ahsoka was a Jedi, she wasn't a Mandalorian but belonged to their order, I was eventually left with a warning _don't use Jedi in undercover Ops again_. Hopefully, I wouldn't need to.

They had even tried to claim compensation or some other bullshit, I wasn't paying too much attention, but I managed to point out that, as the Jedi were an order and not a recognised race or culture, I had every right to give Ahsoka Tano any orders I saw fit. Still, it was best not to aggravate the Jedi too much, they were generals in the greatest army this galaxy had seen since the time of Mandalore the Ultimate and Revan.

After seeing Kenobi off I went to have my conversation with Halsey. It went as well as can be expected, her giving a vague response that could be a yes or could be a no, but that was better than nothing. I was confident she would deal with the situation on Onderon in some way, I just wasn't sure what that would be. I also made mention of the fact I had an inside woman in the Death Watch's Valkyrie division, and that I didn't want her harmed. Halsey gave a brief platitude of _I'll see what I can do_. It was all I would get.

Next, I decided to check in with Tom. He had been selected as the teacher for the Naval Academy recruits, teaching all I had taught him. He had even taken a liking to the disabled boy in the group. People say the boy was a personal guest of the Master Chief, and that his scars were only so few because the Master Chief had saved his life, though I don't know how much of that I believed. But, the boy had talent, I would give him that.

Speaking of talent, it was time to go see my nephew. I may have need of him and his crazy ideas before this whole thing was done.


	44. Chapter 44

Rex POV

'Where's your first stop?' Hevy gave a short roar of laughter like it was already obvious. In hindsight, I suppose it was.

'I am going to the Outlander Club.' Hevy was an avid gambler. It had started simply enough, a few games of cards between the officers, but had grown much, much larger since Geonosis. It was sort of a way to cope but I think he mainly did it for the thrill. When you go charging head first into the enemy as much as Hevy did you didn't really get that buzz of adrenaline from battle anymore, you didn't get the same sense of danger. Huh, you just didn't have sense actually. Still, as a countermeasure to his little gambling addiction, Hevy was one of the few clones to have two bank accounts. One was the account he used for gambling and the other was the account he used for everything else. I had helped set up the account for him after two months of borrowing from me and the boys, stupid bastard.

Usually, one of the boys went with him and held onto his main card for him so he didn't use it when gambling his chips away. He either played until the account was empty or until he had enough. Apparently, he had some good runs the past two outings as he had yet to drain it. Kix even said he was invited to a high stakes game and flushed out the other players, he was getting good at it.

It was Fives turn to go with him this time but, after what happened on Saleucami, well, Echo took it up instead. I think the two used this as a chance to have some time alone together, they were the last two members of Domino Squad. I think that they both use the club as a little reminder of the gambles in life that took them to where they are now. Things like their final exam, the destruction of the Rishi station, Ryloth and so on. I suppose, in a way, we're all gamblers playing the game of life.

I shook my head. I don't know what it is about having down time but it starts making me think weird things, like the meaning of life and weird shit like that. For example, that down time I had with Cody when we were doing base inspection back when I was working under Skywalker. Stupid idiot that I am, I started talking about having kids. I wonder how Ahsoka is, I haven't spoken to her since she was dispatched to Mandalore. I was at it again.

Clearing my head once more, I made my way to the Senate Building. I was planning on meeting up with Riyo but I had something else to do first.

I walked up to senator Amidala's door and rang the chime. The last time I was in here I was shooting the place up. Every time I met with Riyo we always went out to do something, rather than meet up in this dull place, I wasn't the biggest fan of politics even if I liked some of the politicians, we'd just meet at a nearby cafe or something like that. When the doors opened I walked in.

'Officer, is there something I can help you with?' I don't actually recall really meeting Amidala, we had spent some time together here and there, like on Naboo or at a dinner of two with Riyo, so it wasn't a surprise she didn't recognise me. I wasn't the only trooper with a prosthetic eye.

'I'm Captain Rex, of the 501st. I am here for Director Halsey. She felt this matter would be best done with some discretion and asked if I could rely the message to you, as we have already met before.' She gave a very lovely smile, one of the few genuine politicians who could actually give one.

'I remember Captain, you seem to leave quite the impression I must say. The way both Ahsoka and Riyo talk about you is something. I have also seen your exploits on the holoreels and from Senate meetings, I do apologise for not recognising you immediately, I've been a tad overworked as of late.' I blushed a little at her words, and the little knowing smile she gave at the mention of Ahsoka and Riyo. I knew that smile well enough from Cortana so I knew what was going through her head, it wasn't like that though. I had started to stammer out a defence, Ahsoka was like a daughter and Riyo was too young for me, or was I too young for her. Rapidly altered aging was confusing. It seems, from the smile still plastered over the woman's face, my defence hadn't held itself up to scrutiny. Salvaging all the dignity I could I started to talk about Halsey's invitation.

'Dr. Halsey would like you to join the Senate Spooks project.' Amidala gave a laugh at the name.

' _Senate Spooks_?' The raised eyebrow was more than enough to tell me what she thought of it. To be honest, I felt the same.

'We could always call it _Political Phantoms_ or _Galactic Ghouls_ if you really want.' The senator erupted into another roar of laughter.

'And what would becoming a _Senate Spook_ entail?'

'From the way Halsey describes it, it wouldn't be too involved. There is a strong need for agents on enemy worlds and ONI would like to use your diplomatic immunity to get them there. You'd be smuggling agents, weapons, information and supplies to any and all Republic allies on enemy worlds, sometimes even taking them off world. They may even need you to help convince Separatist worlds to align with the Republic or, at the very least turn to the Neutral System Alliance.' Amidala sat back in her chair.

'So I travel, under the guise of friendship, to many different worlds around the galaxy and help undermine their government. I don't know if I could do that. I may have helped in the past with the Clovis incident but there was proof then, reason to doubt him, and we were only looking for information that would save lives, not overthrow a legitimate ruling party.' I know it wasn't the nicest thing in the galaxy, I know it was morally corrupt, but we needed to do this, for the good of the galaxy we had to do the dirty work required to save lives.

'Senator, the galaxy is at war, we can't play by the rules because there are none. Separatists have developed super weapons designed to take out any and all life indiscriminately, compared to that what is a bit of morally grey espionage. Dr. Halsey had seen this war through the eyes of every soldier on the battlefield and knows that this war can't be won through conquest, we need the people of the worlds we take to be on our side otherwise they will rise up against us. For true peace we need the people to want us there, and that means creating a new government that wants to be a part of the Republic.' Amidala gave a deep sigh, taking her time to reply.

'The reason there is no rules is because neither side is willing to stick to any. The Master Chief, for example, has irreversibly damaged 6 planets, wiped out all life in 2 star systems and killed an entire race.' She raised a hand to silence me before I could protest. 'I am aware of both his reasoning and the official reports, but I am not stupid Captain, I can read between the lines. I understand that these were seen as the best options by your commander at the time, but his interests are towards himself and his people, not to the galaxy as a whole. I understand he thought this was the best option to save lives, but he just doesn't understand the true implications of his decisions. 153 Separatist worlds have rejoined the Republic because they fear he would be sent to bring them back into the fold. Some have done the opposite. Whereas, once worlds would at least politely decline our invitation to come to the negotiating table, now they won't even send back a response to our request. Some Republic worlds have left the Senate due to not wanting to be associated with the Master Chief's actions. He makes his decisions to save the lives of his men in that singular moment, but in doing so prolongs the war. Did you know, people love to give names to heros? You have Anakin Skywalker, the Hero without Fear; Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Negotiator; you have yourself, Clone Captain Rex, The Shriek Hawk; and, finally, The Master Chief, the Devourer. People have named you after the greatest killer from a planet of killers, and let me tell you, very few use it as a compliment. People call the Master Chief Devourer because he swallows worlds whole. People don't want to join people like him or you.' I could see her point.

'I get it, truly I do, but that's why we _need_ people like _you_. The Chief and I, we're soldiers, born and bred for one thing and one thing only. We know war better than anyone else in the galaxy, but we don't know peace. We need you, senator, and people like you, to show people like myself and the Chief what we need to do for peace. I know the clone army isn't always a welcome sight on some worlds, but on others it is. We need to bring everyone back into the fold, reunify the people of the galaxy under a single banner. By helping ONI you can return entire planets back into the fold and help to bring peace without or, at the very least, with minor bloodshed.' Amidala looked like the weight of the galaxy rested on her shoulders.

'And what happens if I fail, a stronger Separatist government is put into place and troopers are dropped onto the planet's surface. I would have turned it into a battleground.' A valid, but unneeded, concern.

'It would happen anyway. By helping us you have the chance to stop this from happening, bring them back without war. We're winning this war, that's clear for all to see. The droid army is barely holding together. Instead of fighting us for minor worlds that extend their borders they are now consolidating their forces on key worlds that are becoming even harder for our troops to take. If you, and any others who join the Senate Spooks, can flip these key worlds without bloodshed then it's better for everyone.' After some time to decide, and with a heavy and reluctant sigh, Amidala agreed to work with ONI.

'Where am I off to first?'

'Raxus. Oh, and another thing, keep this a secret from everyone, including the Chancellor?' The suspicious look she gave wasn't unwarranted. It also told me I had better explain or else. Why were women so emotive with a single glare? With one look a woman can convey everything she needs to. Then, once you've figured it all out, it was do or die. Meaning, do as she wants or die. Women were scary.

'Plausible deniability. If you are ever caught we can disavow you. If they ever trace things back then the trail stops at ONI and not the Chancellor. ONI already has a shady history so it wouldn't exactly be unreasonable for them to do this.' The look she gave told me I should have _probably_ brought this up sooner.

'And you wait until now to tell me?' I gave a half hearted shrug.

'Would it have changed your answer.' She just gave another sigh and waved me off. I dropped off the communicator from Halsey that she would need for assignments and left. I really needed a drink. I wonder if Riyo would be up for going to 79's.

* * *

Padme POV

Mina Bonteri was an old and dear friend that I hadn't seen in some time. She was living on Raxus but was the senator for Onderon, the planet ONI wanted me to flip. Apparently there was some rebel activity that had broken out over the planet and, rather than send troops to help out, Dr. Halsey wanted to reinstall the deposed King Dendup and turn the world back into Republic control. King Rash was on shaky ground with the people already and Halsey wanted to use that, and my connection to Mina, to help limit the bloodshed. If I couldn't convince Mina to help then I would instead begin smuggling in ONI operatives onto the planet for assignment, no doubt to help the rebels. I wasn't happy with any of this, but I understood the need for it.

I also had another objective, turn Mina into a Republic spy. Raxus was the home to the Separatist parliament, their counterpart to Coruscant, and ONI wanted a pair of eyes and ears on the inside.

It was tricky actually getting on the planet, Mina had to smuggle me in on one of her diplomatic transports, I could see now why ONI was placing such a high emphasis on this Senate Spook project. Once I had arrived at Mina's estate she wrapped me into a hug. We had missed each other.

I had originally called to say I was really missing her and wanted to meet up, technically true, and would also like to see if we could open up communications between the Separatist Senate and the Republic Senate. It hadn't taken long to convince her.

At Mina's manse I had a lovely dinner with her and her son, in which I found about about the fate of her husband. 'I'm sorry for your loss. While this war hasn't taken anything so precious from me, I do fear that one day it might.' Mina was as kind as ever and hoped that wouldn't be the case. I went on to talk about how destructive this war was and all the upset it had caused. 'Just look at Onderon. Two Kings, one loved by the people but won't fight for his throne, and another who will fight anyone to stay in power but is barely holding on to it. It's a wonder how you can cope with this uncertainty. I wonder, if King Dendup came back into power and turned back to the Republic, would you come back to?' My line of questioning had brought about a heavy atmosphere.

'I cannot say. I would have to represent my people, no doubt, but I couldn't tell you if I would truly believe in the Republic again. Not after everything that has happened, and not with what I've heard about some of these Republic soldiers, your Demon Spartans, the 501st and their leaders. From what I've heard and seen of this Shriek Hawk Captain of theirs, he seems ruthless and uncaring, even when talking about watching his friend die in front of him, I too watched his speech. Their commander is even worse. Atrocities of the highest order and he has yet to be reprimanded. He devours world's Padme, what sort of person does that? And what sort of government let's such things go?' I thought long and hard about my response. I needed to make Mina see things from our side, and to do that I needed to tell her some classified information. As I was now a member of ONI I had a higher security clearance and the first thing I did was look up the Spartans. They had been a curiosity for a while but Naboo had only increased it. I had actually forgotten about them until Rex mentioned that they too had been born and bred for war.

'A child soldier. I have only recently been given access to this information and it is to secret, no one else can know. I'm already in enough trouble by being here. It is against the law to have contact with a Separatist senator after all.' Mina gave a solemn nod and turned off the recording devices she had hidden around her home via a button under the table, I had always thought Mina's measures too extreme but was beginning to see their value. She also turned to Lux, to send him away, but I asked him to stay. He would need to hear this too.

'From the reports I read, the Master Chief is only 17 years old. Originally a boy recruited at the age of 6 from Concordia. His real name has been retracted from all files but he was from a prominent Mandalorian Clan. At 6 he was transferred to Kamino where he spent the next 10 years undergoing extreme levels of physical and mental conditioning to turn him, and the rest of the Spartans, into the perfect warriors. They underwent physical augmentations that increases their running speed to that of a military grade land speeder, their strength to that of a tank blast and a heightened level of intellect that causes vastly out of the box thinking.

'He was made to be the perfect soldier, and he only cares for winning a fight with the least amount of casualties as possible. He was taught to turn all lives, his, his soldiers and civilians, into numbers with different values and to calculate the best decision from there. The atrocities he has committed are horrific to us, but he can't see it that way. To him, we're complaining over nothing, he did as he was taught and lost as little as he could while maximising the amount of damage he did to enemy forces. He was made for war. It is up to us to bring about a peace so he doesn't have to fight. If we can bring about peace he won't have any reason to see the destruction of worlds as a viable option.' Mina looked to be on the verge of a panic attack. Now it wasn't the Master Chief who had committed atrocities but a broken little boy who didn't know any better.

'So that's why you're here.' What? 'I thought it odd you would contact me after so long of barely any contact, and so soon after Clovis' fall from grace after meeting with you, you're hand no doubt.'

'Mina…' She continued.

'You're working for ONI aren't you, how else would you know all this. They certainly wouldn't tell just any senator. You're here working for them aren't you. To convince me to help bring Onderon back into the fold, possibly spy on the Separatists for them too.' It seems I was still the student after all.

'Yes. I am. But that doesn't mean I'm wrong Mina, we need to work together to bring about peace. You know as well as I do that the Separatist cause is falling apart faster and faster everyday. Either worlds are leaving you and joining the Republic or they're joining the Neutral Systems. But even then, even with the droid army defeated and in tatters, people will still fight unless they accept the same rule as everyone else. You and I can help prevent bloodshed by helping bring the Separatists and the Republic together.' Mina wasn't yet convinced.

'And how would I look if I betrayed my people.'

'There is a boy as old as your son fighting this war so people like you and I can live in peace. He is doing anything he feels is necessary to win this war without caring about his image one bit. He is fighting the only way he know how and we should be fighting for peace the only way _we_ know how, with words and speeches on the Senate floor, without caring what people think of use. I'm breaking the law just by being here and so are you. We both want to bring peace to the galaxy but I didn't know you were more concerned about your image than the safety of your own people.' The Mina gave me was one that said I should know her better but I knew that this war could change people, one only had to look at Anakin.

'I'm just worried that this decision will bring war to them.' I understood, I really, really did, but there was no choice to make if she really cared for her people.

'Mina, war is coming either way. If the Separatists had enough troops to hold us off don't you think they would work towards helping secure Rash's rule and cement Onderon as a Separatist world by dealing with your rebels.' Mina just stood up out of her chair.

'I'm sorry Padme. I can't help you.' I didn't understand. Mina just wasn't like this at all, I knew she cared about her people. This decision was just asking for Republic forces to land and take the planet at some point in the future.

'Mina. Don't you see, the Republic is winning. The only way to help your people with the least amount of bloodshed is if you help us. The Separatists are losing, there's no way…' I froze. It was starting to make sense. Mina's rush, her over aggressiveness and her decision. '...unless their not. Dooku, he's given you and the rest of your Senate a reason to believe you can win, hasn't he. He's planning something big that you believe can help turn the war in your favour, or at least halt our progress.' When Mina finally turned back to me I could see the fear in her eyes.

'You need to leave, now. They know you're here.' Lux was quickly on his feet and taking me to the window. He grabbed a bunch of vines and told me to climb down. Lux started climbing too. As soon as we reached the bottom I could hear voices up above. From the sound of things Mina was being questioned as to my whereabouts. She denied me even being there, until the inspector pointed out the third plate and the fact she only had one son and no husband. Before Mina could say anything back a blaster shot rang out and Mina screamed briefly before being silenced.

I grabbed Lux's hand and ran.

By the time I stopped I had already gotten us lost in the streets of Raxulon. 'My mom. She's dead.' I didn't have time to comfort him so I told it to him straight. Yes, his mom had died, and yes, if I wasn't here she would still be alive. But, Mina knew the risks in bringing me here and she did it anyway because she wanted me to be able to convince her that the Republic could help her people. I asked Lux to honour her memory and help me save Onderon. He agreed and soon started leading me to a private spaceport his family owned. Once we were off world I called the Director through the Holocommunicator Rex had given me to inform her of what happened and what we should do next.

She told me to come to Kamino.

* * *

Rex POV

I really need to go out drinking with the boys again. Just two drinks in an my head was already buzzing. Riyo was plastered. The girl was ecstatic to have a chance to really cut loose and have fun and burned her way through a mix of drinks of varying strength. At least she seemed to be having fun.

Right now she was on the dance floor and was trying to get me to come join her. For all the training the Kaminoans gave me gracefulness wasn't a skill they felt I needed. I denied her again and she gave a playful huff. I ordered another drink from the bartender and was slowly sipping away when I turned back to Riyo. Another trooper was behind her, grinding away. Riyo tried to push him away but he just grabbed her hands and pulled her close.

I stormed across the club and broke them apart.

'Hey. If you want one find your own.' I took a step towards him.

'I already have. Her.' I could smell how drunk the trooper was just from his breath. I noticed he was wearing an officer's uniform rather than the casual dress of the Regs. The patch on his left was the Captain's insignia and the one on his right was for the 603rd.

'Do you have any idea who I am? I'm a fucking Captain _trooper_ and I won't take such nonsense from you. Who the fuck do you think you are?' I had decided to forgo my officers apparel as a way to blend in, but that didn't make me any less the Captain of the 501st and that carried a lot of weight with the other troopers.

'Me, I'm no one special. Just the Captain of the 501st Legion.' The club soon quietened to a whisper, even the music had stopped. Apparently I wasn't convincing enough for the other Captain who took another step forward, getting right in my face. Before he could say anything Kix stepped out of the crowd.

'Careful. I don't wanna have to patch you up after you decided to get into a fist fight with the only clone to kill a Force user in close quarters combat. A previous Jedi Master who was said to be one of the Orders greatest Battle Masters before he turned traitor, if the Jedi are to be believed.' The fact Kix was in his dress uniform, which had the symbol for Medic and the 501st on his shoulders, put a lot of weight to my words, and his. The trooper backed away, stammering out an apology. I turned to two nearby troopers and ordered them to take him outside and get him a cab, he'd had enough.

'And don't you dare tell the cabbie to bill it to the Republic. I know for a fact that you have more than enough on your cards to pay him. The Republic spends more than enough giving us money to use for this exact situation. If I find out that you did tell him to bill the Republic I _will_ be bringing this to the Master Chief himself.' The two troopers were quick to comply. I turned to the rest of the club. 'As for the rest of you. You're here to rest and relax after a hard fight on the front. You are not here to cause problems for the locals. You are each a part of the greatest army to have even graced the galaxy, not even Mandalore the Ultimate's could compare. You are the strongest, most skilled and most _disciplined_ army there has ever been. Fucking act like it.

'If you break something you pay for it, if you buy something you pay for it and if you start a fight 'cus you're too drunk or too stupid to do otherwise you will either spend the night in one of the Guards many cells to sober up or be brought up for a disciplinary hearing by your commanding officers.

'These fine citizens around you deserve just as much of your respect as your fellow troopers do. They may not fight like we do, but we'd be just as lost without them as they'd be without us. Act like fucking soldiers, not common criminals. If you wanna do that then at least have the decency to go to the kriffing Underworld first.' I held out my hand to Riyo, who took it while plastering on one of the smuggest looks I had ever seen on her face, and I escorted her out of the club.

'You're always coming to my defence, my shining knight. Although you're missing the armour again.' I snorted in laughter.

'Isn't it more heroic when I rescue you without it. I mean, it's more personal risk to me when I'm not wearing it when I rescue you right?' Riyo hummed.

'I think it would be even better if you were bare chested next time.' I blushed. I hope that was what Riyo was aiming to embarrass me otherwise I would be even more embarrassed, her absolutely roaring laughter at said blush help convince me that was all she wanted, thank the Gods.

Thankfully the troublesome trooper wasn't on the platform when we got out. I called for a cab to pick us up and to head to 500 Republica, the apartment building that catered to the politicians of this fair city. When we got to the door I waited long enough to see Riyo successfully open her door, with a bit of effort.

'Would you like to come in and have some Java?' Java? At this time? I suppose it could help flush out the alcohol, maybe, but it would keep you up all night. I thanked Riyo for the offer but told her I couldn't stay as I needed to be up bright and early tomorrow, and some Java would just keep me up all night.

Riyo gave me a raised eyebrow and told me that was kind of the idea. Still, she said I should some again some other time for a cup and bid me good night. I left soon after for the barracks, I was leading the men through drills tomorrow. The Master Chief had kept it a secret from all but me and the Commander. Let's see how many can actually stand up tomorrow, let alone do drills. When the Chief did something he went above and beyond, even if it was just teaching his men about drinking in moderation.


	45. Chapter 45

Padme POV

The downpour was making it hard to control the ship. It was no wonder clone pilots were such good fliers in extreme weather conditions if this is what they were practising in. I was carefully manoeuvring to a free landing pad when I noticed Lux seemed tense. His hands were gripping his seat. I suppose it wasn't unreasonable for him to be worried. The Separatists killed his mother and now he was being brought before the most dangerous woman in the galaxy, Catherine Halsey.

Halsey was an enigma. There were a lot of stories about her but no true facts, not anything substantial anyway. Her skill in the espionage business had kept her name from all official records until Separatist spies had finally sniffed her out, originally the reports said that Jedi Master Zey, her second in command, was leading ONI. When she was finally discovered there was no reason to keep it a secret anymore. This lead to a flood of news channels searching far and wide for anything of substance on the woman.

They found two Doctorates to her name, one for Biology and another for Droid Engineering and AI. In short, the perfect person who could help improve our troops and find a weakness with the droid army. The next thing we knew was she was born to the Mandalorian Hardeen Clan but changed her name for her rather controversial views on Mandalorian growth and ability rates, I suppose her Spartans proved her point for her on that one. Next came the rumours. It wasn't yet official, though readily accepted by all, that she had created the Spartans, or at least adopted them, and was sometimes called the Mother of Spartans by the clones. It was worrying enough that the head of the best intelligence agency in the Republic had Spartans under her control, but when you add on the fact the clones also called her Mother Whisper. Well, that one kicked up controversy.

Apparently, Mother Whisper was the name of a black market information trader, one of the best. People say she sees all and hears all, with eyes and ears all across the galaxy. I suppose if that wasn't true before it is now. The thing was, while the Chancellor hadn't confirmed Halsey was Mother Whisper, he hadn't denied it either. In fact, he hadn't gone near the subject at all, not even when asked in press briefings.

As Lux and I moved down the ramp I saw Halsey flanked by two Spartans. I felt slightly honoured she was willing to stand outside and get herself drenched just to greet me. We had a brief greeting before being lead through the facility.

The Kaminoans architecture had a very clean, smooth and slightly soft feel to it, the rounded edges helping in that regard. It felt both clinical and welcoming. Everything had a purpose and it did that purpose with little problem. The door started opening at just the right moment for you to walk through them as it fully opens, the chairs lower to just the right height while facing the right direction and the lighting brightened and dimmed to an acceptable level for both time of day and the species using the room. It was very precise and efficient. I actually saw some parallels between the Kaminoans and the Mandalorians in this regard, or at least the clone troopers.

From what I had seen of the clones, while they were all the same person, they each had a sense of individuality that allowed them to do their own task but also had enough similarity to work as part of the collective. Take the chairs and the door. The door opens at just the right time to let people in and the chairs lower to the right height for their occupant, two individuals with different tasks, yet they were both had the overarching task of making life easier for those coming into the room.

The reason this was similar to the clones was that they each had their own specialisations that allowed them to do different tasks but all worked together to complete one overarching goal, victory. It was a surprising thing to realise because it actually made me think about the Senate.

The Senate had a plethora of individuals with their own agendas and desires but it had no common goal. Sure, now that there was a war going on we were all working together towards victory, but we weren't working for the same team to win. Clovis, the Trade Federation and the Banking Clan's are all part of the Senate but are working towards the Separatist agenda. Was it any wonder then that it was the Mandalorians who were the only real society that had stood the test of time.

The Republic, the Jedi, the Galactic Empires and the Sith Order had all, at some point or another, been broken into nothing, even if they had been revived at one point or another in the future. The Mandalorians, on the other hand, were made up of millions of different people that had different wants and desires, different jobs and skill, but all worked in unison when the need arose and had never been wiped out and later revived. People worked for the good of the Clan, even at the expense of an individual; Houses gave up wealth and power to help out a struggling Clan under their protection; and when there was a Mandalore all the people rose up as one to complete his will even at the cost of their individual lives, just because it would help the collective.

I was starting to see why Halsey, Rex and others were so passionate about coming together as one, it was the foundation of their people, the bedrock of their beliefs. While they understood the importance of an individual and tried to allow them to grow in a way that would highlight their strengths and cover their weaknesses they didn't try to accommodate people. They gave everyone the same chance and it was up to you to make the most of that chance, rather than giving extra support to someone who was failing and then less support to someone who was succeeding. While it did mean that people got left behind and that those with problems and disabilities were at a disadvantage, making them have to work harder than their peers or be left behind, it created unity by not prioritising anyone. It was a very idealistic society.

One that failed to accept everyone. Sure, they took in any race, gender, sexuality etcetera, they didn't accept those who couldn't keep up, they rid themselves of any who couldn't meet their standards. To Mandalorians, you were either Mandalorian or you weren't.

It was the same with the Kaminoans. They killed any who didn't fit into their society, rather like the Mandalorians. In Mandalorian society there was no cultural acceptance, you became them or you weren't allowed to be called Mandalorian. You took on their values, their way of life and even their language. If you didn't or couldn't you were labelled Dar'Manda, Not Mandalorian. While this was basically a death sentence as all Dar'Manda are considered a priority target for any Mando that comes across one despite any prior obligations, this was to help preserve the collective by purging any undesirable or faulty parts that didn't fit.

It was a rather uncomfortable realisation.

I grew up in a society where everyone was welcome, obviously there were do's and don't's but when isn't there, but in the eye's of the Nabooians and the Republic all people were welcome to express themselves in their own way. It was also startling to realise that this was no longer the society I was a part of. Now, I was an individual with a certain set of skills that were my own, my training as a politician, that was now being used to help the collective and now, if I ever stopped working towards the collective goal of the Clone Armies victory, I could be purged at any moment. I was just now realising what I had gotten myself involved in.

This was only further highlighted by my new mission. Due to this new information, about a coming assault from the Separatists that could turn the tide of the war, I had been moved away from helping Onderon. My mission was to use my diplomatic immunity and access to smuggle to several key, but fairly vulnerable, planets a new weapon that I was told nothing about. They would then use this weapon to fend off the Separatist assault. If I, for any reason, failed to complete my task I would be removed and replaced because the clone army could ill afford to keep me. If I failed then I, a single cog in this vast machine, put the entire collective's goal at risk. I could make us lose the war.

By not delivering these weapons the Separatist attack could come through and be successful. This then puts us at a stalemate or on the back foot, which could cause the Republics loss and the destruction of the clone army. A single cog like me had a specific task that could change the fates of all involved. Was it any wonder they were so heavy handed with people who couldn't work in any part of their collective. My hands were starting to shake just thinking about the daunting nature of what is, actually, a rather simple task. But then, that's why people are so drawn to Mandalorians.

I was going to do a relatively simple and minor task but that was actually of great importance. Mandalorian culture puts great emphasis on rewarding an individual for doing a task for the collective rather than the self, and it felt rather empowering. Even as a queen my responsibilities weighed down on my shoulders, I had so much power but nothing I did made a difference. It was the same in the Senate. No matter what I did, in the end, there really isn't any change.

Just look at Satine. I had tried to help her out by standing up for her and keeping her in power. Now she just sat on a throne with no power to her name or title, the exact same outcome as what would have happened if Palpatine had gotten his way.

The only time I had felt as powerful or as important as I did now, as pivotal to the outcome of something massively important, was when I managed to convince the Gungan's to fight for me and my people. The Senate made me feel powerless and unable to change the outcome no matter what I did, but taking matters into my own hands allowed me to change something in a way that I was starting to see was impossible for the Senate.

With a new sense of purpose, I eagerly started my new assignment. It was the first time in a long time when I really felt I was making a difference. I hope Lux will feel the same when he finds out what Halsey wants with him.

* * *

Halsey POV

Senator Amidala looked committed, I'd give her that, but this wasn't exactly something to get as excited about as she was. But then, wasn't that the point? People are inherently selfish creatures, this is true of nearly all sentient beings, with exceptions being made for insectoid species, they usually had a very strong sense of unity. The greatest way to get someone to do something for you was to show them how it could benefit them, only thing is you need to know what they want first.

Padme Amidala was an idealist. She wanted a free society that everyone could be a part of. Why? Simple, she wanted people to like and praise her, she wanted her actions to matter. The more people she helped the more praise she got and the better she felt. The reason she was so drawn to someone like Skywalker is that she was the only one who mattered to him, she felt special. Things started to fall apart when Skywalker started getting a stigma attached to him that made him somewhat controversial. His acts were morally wrong and made people of two minds about him, Amidala wants people to have one mind about her, to like her. It wasn't even a conscious thought. Society had helped her form her moral compass and, when Skywalker started to swing away from the direction that compass was pointing in, Amidala didn't like that.

Sure, she's done some very selfless things, but for a selfish reason, because they make her feel good and because it makes people like her. The key to making someone like her, who has an opinion that is in stark contrast to my own, do something that I want or is against her moral code is to get her to see the benefits of doing things my way.

Now, some may point out the fact that she is willing to step on people's toes to do the right thing a point against my assessment. They are wrong. While she is a somewhat controversial figure to some, that is because she stood up for the little people against those with power. In her mind, once those people in power see the error of their ways, and realise they should be fighting for the little people, they will come to like her because she did what was morally right. What I need from her went against this desire. This is where the inflation of her self-importance comes in.

Amidala's mission was to deliver several nuclear warheads to key planets around the galaxy. I had calculated the most likely targets for a Separatist assault based on the defences of the planet and its strategic importance. Due to the controversial nature of nuclear warheads, Amidala would usually oppose them. Instead of convincing her that the warheads were necessary I told her that only she could save the galaxy and completely omitted the fact that the weapons were nuclear.

I didn't need her to deliver those warheads to the various planets on her list. While the warheads need to get to their destination I could easily use the vast array of resources at my disposal to do it all at once, she was just a more efficient solution, if a slightly longer on. By ensuring that Amidala believes I need her to do this task I make her feel better about herself despite the fact she is breaking one of her morals, even if it was only a minor one, about weapons. She doesn't know that she's carrying nukes, but now, she no longer cares. Normally she would have only agreed if she knew what she was carrying and if the public would approve of such a device. But now? She believes that she is wholly responsible for ensuring the continued survival of the Republic, the thing she values so much as it is the thing that validates her existence, so no longer cares about breaking one of her morals as, in her mind, she is achieving her goal of looking out for the Republic and gaining their adoration when she is instead working towards my goal of ensuring Mandalores survival and continued growth of power.

Lux is a similar problem. He is a Separatist sympathiser and believes in their ideals, that the Republic is corrupt. That's not exactly an untrue statement, but I need him to work with me and to believe that his goal, the safety of Onderon, lies in working with me and the Republic rather than the Separatists, even if it goes against his ideals and personal beliefs. Thankfully, that was a relatively simple task due to the current state of the war effort. All I needed to do now was convince him to go to the extreme lengths I needed from him.

General Tandin was a key part of my plan. He had once worked with both the current King and the father of the sibling rebel leader's father. King Rash was once the military advisor to King Dendup and staged a decently popular military coup, as military coups go, with the only person real public outcrier being General Gerrera, the father of Steela and Saw, the rebel leaders. General Gerrera was a close friend of Tandin's and shared many of his views, it was just that Gerrera saw the type of leader Rash would make whereas Tandin did not. And so, Tandin had to stand by and watch as his friend was executed as a traitor.

Tandin, much like Gerrera before him, was a very influential figure in the Onderon military. It was only thanks to Tandin's support, and support from a few others, that Rash was able to seize power. It was also the public opinion of Tandin that smothered a lot of the backlash of such a move and the death of Gerrera that reignited it.

If Lux can convince Tandin to support the rebels than this Valkyrie Death Watch sub group won't be able gain Onderon's support and we could eliminate one of Death Watch's elite group of warriors. The only real problem with this was that, as soon as I had finished explaining to Lux what I needed him to do, a massive Separatist fleet just jumped into space above Kamino. Well… shit.

* * *

John POV

'You know, I only want one. One actual fucking garden on this dead ass planet. Is that too much to ask for?' Cortana and I were out taking Whip for a walk. Cortana hadn't gotten much chance to be out and about on a world with a decent amount of flora that was also safe. Ciutric IV was mountainous, Geonosis _was_ a dust bowl and Felucia wasn't exactly safe. Still, Whip had liked it. He had done well on Felucia, especially at getting snipers out of trees, and seemed to have a jump in his step. I suppose it had been a while since we last just went out for a walk rather than for a mission. He didn't even seem to mind the lead much.

'And poor Mr Whippy. Look at him. Do you really need that stupid thing?' I gave Cortana a soft sigh. I had explained it three times already but she seemed to think that her _puppy dog eyes_ , or whatever she called them, would make me take his lead off. I had already taken my armour off for her, I'm not taking his lead off.

'I need it on to quickly prove he's level 1 classification. You know we don't actually have any paperwork for him. And don't call him that, he isn't an ice cream.'

'He might as well be, he's just as sweet.' She was crouched down next to Whip and was giving tons of attention. Being the sellout that he was, he was more than happy to accept.

Halsey and I had spoiled that girl. She knew well enough what the rules about dangerous animal were but didn't care either way, instead wanting me to use the power and influence I had with the military for something as trivial as getting a dog lead off Whip. Still, most of the time I did indulge her despite the fact she wanted me to, not only, abuse my power but to do so for an extremely petty reason. I wonder what that says about me?

I had left Rex in charge of Boba today. The other boys were well behaved, for the most part, but Boba was quickly becoming a strong influence on them. And that wasn't always a good thing. The boy had been independent for so long he found it hard to accept the rules and restrictions that were now being placed on him. Some of them being the fact that none of the boys, Boba included, were to go anywhere without a chaperone, go into any gambling dens or go to the Underworld. Boba had snuck out first chance he got.

It didn't take long to catch him but it showed he needed someone to have eyes on him at all times. I had even set up a router for who would be watching him and when, the fact the men had nicknamed the people on the list the Baby Boba Brigade didn't help matters. Still, it gave the rest of the boys time away from a decidedly bad influence while not punishing Boba, just restraining his actions a bit.

It was a rather nice day, all things considered, for Coruscant. Low traffic and a nice bright sun. I suppose it was only inevitable that something would go wrong. Halsey's beacon was active, she was in trouble. I quickly called up Rex and the rest of the troopers out and about in the city to return to base. Kamino was under attack and we needed to get there as soon as we could.

* * *

Rex POV

There was a mad rush about the base. Kamino, while not exactly Mandalore, was a home to many of us and, most importantly, it was the home of our brothers. If Halsey herself was in trouble, despite being surrounded by the largest defence fleet in the entirety of Republic space, the largest clone force on any planet and the most amount of Spartans in a single place then something had gone horribly wrong. It was a shame I had to cancel on Riyo, it had been some good Java and a nice talk, although she had seemed a bit disappointed the whole time, and it had only gotten worse when I told her I had to go. I'd make it up to her later.

'You know she wanted to fuck you right?' The Hell? I looked down to Boba. 'You do know what it means when someone invites you in for Java right? And you show up with a kid at your side? Not exactly smooth, Romeo.'

'What are you talking about?' The look Boba gave me made me feel a little stupid.

'When a girl invites someone into her place for a cup of Java she means she wants to do something that will have the two of you up all night bouncing off the walls, if you do it right, and involves a lot of different fluids. Then you show up with me. She is _not_ going to forget this unless you are some sort of _god_ at sex.' This can't be happening. A kid was not only giving me dating advice but sex advice.

'I don't need to hear this from you Shorty.'

'You need to hear it from someone. Sex isn't exactly part of the clone training program. Besides, I'm technically older than you.' Couldn't argue with that logic. Still… I put it all out of mind. By the time the Chief got here we had everything squared away and on the ships. We were ready to go home.


	46. Chapter 46

Ahsoka POV

To be honest, I didn't know why I thought he would say anything different, I had seen him dispassionately torture his own men before asking me to work with him, why would Hood even care about the lives of some Onderon rebels that served no purpose to him? Thankfully General Tandin did, I really didn't want to have to kill any.

Our scouts had stumbled upon the main rebel camp yesterday and reported that they were scrambling to leave, seems they knew we were coming. The problem for them was they didn't know when we would arrive and still had a lot of packing to do. The rebel numbers were surprisingly small for the amount of trouble they were supposed to be, but then I had seen what just one man can do before, though he had been enhanced.

The rebels had set their camp into a cliff wall, using a cave system to help hide their numbers. Even so, the animals needed to remain outside in a sort of makeshift stable. We knew from previous reports that ever mount had a rider, so we just counted the mounts.

Now we had our enemy in sight, using data compiled by our scouts and Tandin himself, Tandin came up with a plan of action. A supremely stupid one, but hey, I wasn't complaining. For one, Tandin wanted this done with minimal casualties, not an odd request if you want to get information about any more rebel activity. The stupid thing was he planned to walk into the middle of their camp alone and without any weapons to defend himself with to try and talk them into surrendering.

While he was off being a noble idiot I, being one of the few close quarter specialists with non-lethal takedowns, was to sneak onto the ridge that overlooked the camp and take out the sniper they had on overwatch. We were even timing this to coincide with Steela Gerrera's turn up on the ridge to help coax Saw into giving up peacefully. While I made my way to the top of the cliff face, to silently took out one of the two commanders, the rest of the Valkyries were going to fan out into the trees and surround the camp. If something happened to Tandin, we were to orders to exterminate the lot. If they gave up then we follow procedure.

As soon as I had a moment of privacy I called up Hood. I hadn't actually expected him to pick up but he had, apparently, I was an _important_ call. At least important enough to cancel a council meeting. That was a little ego boosting, I will admit. Still, I explained the situation, told him calls may be even more infrequent from now on and asked for an update and instructions.

For now, I was to carry on as I had been. The Onderon situation was going to be sorted out by a man named Lux Bonteri, the planet's senator. Halsey wanted no bloodshed as it would result in a smoother takeover. I was to carry on as I already had and would continue to feed Hood with information on Death Watch to help set up situations to take advantage of the information. With that done I carried on up the hill.

Once I had found a good position to watch both Gerrera and Tandin I flipped down my rangefinder to watch things unfold. Tandin had already come out of the woods and was soon surrounded, with Saw coming personally to secure the General. That was my cue.

I tiptoed towards Steela. Being as quiet as I could, I made my way out of the trees and across the rocks. I had a vast array of skills and training, from my Force Techniques to Saber combat, my Mandalorian Combat training to my training in Conventional Militaries and Tactics. I wasn't, however, trained in stealth.

Steela, being a sniper, had obviously trained her natural awareness and stealth skills to a degree that someone like me could be heard. My prior training had made me sure footed and graceful, which I could use to help me here, but I had in no way been prepared for anything more than a conventional confrontation where I had to overpower my opponent with either strength and skill.

When I got close enough, Steela rolled from her belly to her back, swinging her rifle at me. I caught it with my palm, which left a stinging sensation. Using a bit of Force Wound, I crushed the barrel. I probably wasn't supposed to use it this way but I did, I also put more power into the technique than I know I should. I even knew I was breaking my promise to the Jedi Council, but survival comes first.

Slamming my foot into Steela's chest, I ripped the rifle away from her. Seeing it's now useless state, she let me. Her hands moved to grab my ankle and she twisted her entire body to get enough force to slam me into the ground. The air rushed out my lungs and, when I got it back, Steela was ontop of me. I dodged the first punch to my head simply by leaning to the side. I parried the second one. Steela's hand slammed into the floor and she started to scream in pain.

Panicking, I used Force Wound again. The technique encircled Steela's neck and her cries soon turned into strangled gasps with her now broken hand clawing at her throat. My hands shot up to her throat to make it seem like I was actually choking her. Steela's other hand was trying to get me to stop by repeatedly slamming into my helmet.

After a few hits, Steela had broken my concentration. She was let sucking in all the air she could while I tried to stop the world from spinning. I rolled out from under her, leaving her to fall to her back, and scrambled to my feet. Taking a moment, I waited for Steela to rise and for me to get my bearings.

Once on her feet, I threw a punch at her head. The lack of oxygen had let the woman fatigued and slow. She blocked the punch but left her stomach open to a gut punch. This left her keeled over, coughing. I finished with a cross to her cheek.

When I noticed her rising again I centred myself as best I could and used all the control I had, all my concentration, to use Critorn and Force Wound at once. I was increasing her pain while strangling her gasps. It was everything I could do to not kill her. Stopping myself was even harder.

When I finally let go, Steela being barely conscious, I dropped to my knees. My entire body ached with a type of exhaustion that I had never felt before. Master Kenobi had always said the Force was invigorating and a delight to use, not in a euphoric pleasure sort of way but in a pleasant breeze across the skin kind of way. It didn't feel like that now. Still, I had done my part. For now.

With great effort, I activate my rangefinder by carelessly knocking down the antenna on the side of my helmet. Tandin was still talking. Good. I carelessly sat on Steela's body, thankful to hear the groan of pain, she was the only comfortable thing around to sit on. As I tried to stave off sleep I kept an eye on Tandin, waiting for my next signal. Just as my eyelids were becoming too heavy to keep open Tandin looked in my direction, the signal for phase 2.

I dragged myself to my feet, bringing Steela with me. I got her to her feet and held her in front of me and drew my Westar 20, aiming it at her head. All I had to do now was stay like this until we were done. Simple. I watched as Saw struggled with his heart and his head. I could see Saw's desire to fight, to get his sister back and kill us all, saving the day, at least to him. Thankfully, he had some help when making his decision thanks to the emergence of Bo-Katan.

To Saw, she was just visible, peeking over Tandins shoulder. No one else, just her. She'd be out of focus and just within his peripheral vision, but Saw knew what she meant, what she represented. The Master Chief loomed over Mandalore, whether he knew it or not. By the Chancellor publically acknowledging that the clone army and the Spartans as Mandalorian we had all been painted with the same brush, especially after our one _saving grace_ , Duchess Satine, had been ousted and disgraced. Just the sight of Bo-Katarn told Saw all he needed to know that Tandin wasn't bluffing when he said he had Mandalorian, that Saw wouldn't get out of this fight alive.

After a tense moment Saw ordered his men to lay down their weapons. Tandins men, along with the Valkyrie's, moved to secure the rebels and to transport them back to the capital. I held no illusions about what would happen to them but, if Hood was to be believed, things would turn around soon enough. Not that I would be here to see it, we'd only be on the planet for the next few days.

Bo-Katan wanted to get back as soon as she could, Hood had been making a move on Concordia. It turns out he had teamed up with a few of the more New Mandalorian inclined factions on the moon and was using them to sniff out individuals who may have knowledge on Death Watch by having the various gangs and movements start bar brawls to pick out the Death Watch members or sympathisers. It was quite underhanded really, and exactly what I would expect from Hood. While he had failed to establish a military presence on the planet his support had allowed the Reclaimer movement to grow in power. They were now in open conflict with the Death Watch within the city streets, openly firing on anyone wearing Death Watch colours or symbols.

First thing I did upon getting back to Iziz was sleep.

I awoke the next day to a tightness in my chest and a general buzz about the shop. Everyone was rushing about, packing things up and putting them away. When I managed to ask someone what was going on they said we were moving out. This was news to me.

When I finally managed to track down Kandosii'la I found out we were moving out to a planet called Carlac to help set up a Death Watch outpost. It seems she had tried to get me up to help but I was too out of it to help, she had even started hammering on my chest in an effort to wake me. Pre Vizsla wanted us to travel to a planet called Carlac where we would set up the outpost. while he used his status as officially elected House leader to organise some of his vassal Clans to go Krownest to set up a base within the Mandalorian Sector itself.

Calac was relatively close to Mandalorian space and had once been occupied by us during Mandalore the Ultimates reign. It was a frost covered world but would soon begin entering its several years long spring season. The Onderon Beast Riders promised to us by King Rash would also be sent there to help mask their numbers from Mandalorian scouts, they were expected to arrive within the next two weeks. Vizsla hadn't forgotten the Mandalorian sector. While we were setting up an outpost on Carlac Vizsla would be using his status as the officially elected House leader to organise some of his vassal Clans to go Krownest to set up a base within the Mandalorian Sector itself.

It seems Vizsla was rapidly gearing up for a strike on Mandalore itself, perhaps this new boost of troops was giving him a bit more confidence. Either way, Hood needed to know. If Vizsla really did have reason to be so confident and bold, then Mandalore was in for a tough time fending him off.

* * *

Aayla POV

Everything hurt. My arms, my chest and, well, I just hurt. The dull buzzing in my ears was probably the worst part. Not because of the pain, that I could deal with, but just because of how _annoying_ it was. Just let me die in peace.

I shot up. Where was I?! I should be dead, I really should be dead. So why wasn't I?

When I ordered the blind jump above Felucia we were still within the planet's gravitational pull. Seeing the rest of the fleet jump to hyperspace I knew we wouldn't have lasted long, so I ordered a short blind jump. The fact we had the planet's gravity affecting the jump should have ripped the ship apart in hyperspace. Instead, when we exited hyperspace, mere moments after entering it, our engines had ripped off and the structural integrity of the ship had been compromised across the board, not even internal systems had been safe from our rough arrival.

I tried to call for a ship wide evacuation but internal communications were down, thankfully we still had standard protocol. The next problem came with the escape pods themselves. Thanks to the damage most weren't working or had misfired. It was a few hours later we had the rest working, but by then most of the ship was venting too much oxygen and emergency ship protocol had sealed those areas off, something that was thankfully still working, mostly. I had to make several trips to help seal bulkheads that weren't closing on their own.

We then hit another problem upon launching our pods, the nearest habitable planet had a strange gravitational field that sent our pods careening out of control, at least until low orbit, when the emergency thrusters had finally engaged. This did little to lessen the impact. In short, I should be dead several times over.

'Where am I?' Things were still blurry but the different tones of grey had me thinking it was a cave of some sort. Thing was, the last thing I remember being in an escape pod, not a cave.

'It depends on who you ask. The ones who first lived here called it home. The ones who came after called it the same. But for me? I call it where I need to be, you should too.' I swung around to face the blurry figure to my left.

'Who are you?' The man let out a little chuckle.

'Are you asking who I am or what I want?' Great. It was like I was back at the temple getting one of Master Yoda's vague lectures.

'Both.'

'What I want is merely to do as the Force wills. As for who I am, I am one with the Force.' Did this guy learn _from_ Yoda or _with_ him? If it wasn't for the voice and unbroken speech I could have sworn they were the same being.

'Don't mind him. He likes playing with people and being purposely vague. I'm Baze, he's Chirrut.' I swung to the voice behind me and recoiled from the blinding light. Chirrut spoke up next.

'Calm yourself. Focus. Use the Force to see when your eyes cannot.' I closed my eyes and started to regain my inner focus. Chirrut, for all of his talk about the Force, had a fair amount of sensitivity but no clear training with it. Baze had no sensitivity to speak of, though both he and Chirrut had a calm aura around them. It was like the Force itself was telling me to trust them.

Feeling deeper into the pair I could sense something else, an intense devotion to something. The Force. The two were Guardians of the Whills. Due to the scarcity of Jedi in today's age, and thanks to the fact nearly all were out fighting a war, nearly all the old Jedi monuments, temples and holy sights had been abandoned. I am unsure as to when but the Jedi decided, some time ago, they wanted to preserve these sights and had taught our philosophy to others. This group eventually became the Guardians as they were known today. They, like the Jedi, believed in the eternal and all powerful nature of the Force, some even claiming to feel its guiding hand, though they themselves were unable to use Force powers. Most resided with the old temples, though some became wandering preachers.

'Why are you here?' As I felt deeper into the pair I realised they didn't know. Curious, they were here for a reason but didn't know what. Could the Force have brought them here?

'Ask her.' I didn't understand. Who did Baze mean?

'You will need your eyes for this one. It is near impossible to sense one so intune with the Force, with the Force.' I opened my eyes to see my sight had returned. Taking a quick glace at both Chirrut and Baze, I observed the pair.

Chirrut had a shaved head, nearly to the scalp. His eyes had a milky look to them, indicating blindness, yet still showed his wisdom. The gleam also showed his more playful side. He looked to be a resolute man with a strong undercurrent of danger, yet he never felt threatening. He kept a staff at his side, more than likely to help him find his way.

Baze was a big and bulky man with long hair, though he left it unkempt. He was wearing a set of bulk armour with a large blaster rifle in his hand, probably originally meant for a larger and stronger species. There were several straps all over his armour filled with gas canisters and battery packs, the thing must just eat through bolts like they were nothing. Baze looked to be a stoic man, unshakeable, but had a gentleness to him that was only seen with a deep look into his eyes.

I turned to see further into the cave. The women had an other worldly fey look to her. The creeping vine patterns on her alabaster skin, along with her pointed ears, gave her a sense of beauty not found within any corner of the galaxy. Her blond hair shimmered in the fragmented light from the mouth of the cave and took the breath from all who saw her. There was a gentle aura of wisdom and kindness to her. She was gently floating off the ground but was now gently lowering herself to the ground. When her eyes opened I saw they were a dull grey that seemed to hold the wonders of the galaxy.

'Aayla Secura, I apologise for not introducing myself sooner, I needed to take a moment to commune with the Force. I am Fay, one of the wandering Master of our Order. It was fortunate you arrived on this planet when you did. None have been here for years, and centuries before them.' I knew of Master Fay, who didn't, her exploits were known throughout the Jedi Order. While I preferred the tales of the battlemasters, when I was a child, there was always something captivating about Master Fay.

She was one of the few in the order who did not wield a lightsaber. She had one, I was sure, but she didn't use it. She had also all but left the Order, essentially, some time ago to wander the outer rim, following the Will of the Force and helping all she came across. Countless planets and millions of people had been saved by this ageless beauty.

'Fortunate? I thought you followed the Will of the Force. Doesn't that mean you coming here was because of the Will of the Force?' She gave a gentle smile.

'Coming here was indeed the Will of the Force, meeting _you_ was not. Despite what some at the Temple may tell you, not everything that happens is because of the Force. While it is true the Force sees all and tries to lead us on the right path, it is up to us to listen to the Will of the Force. We are still beings with freewill and can make our own choices. Choices can also lead to coincidence, like now. If we all followed the Will of the Force why would it create conflict and strife? Why direct us to face the Sith? In the end, we are all given a choice to make, the Force merely tries to guide us in the right direction.' I suppose that made sense.

'I see. Then why _are_ you here?' Fay's face grew solemn.

'We are here to learn more about the Great Silence.'

* * *

A/N:

First, I will apologise for having to take another few days off. I have spent most of today loading box after box and am not even half way done yet. This means tomorrow I will be packing again and have no time to write and, as I am moving into the new place on Saturday, I will not be able to upload another chapter then. If I am ready I may be able to upload on the following Monday but I may have to take an extra two to four days off. It is a big move and I will need to get myself set up and explore the new city.

Thank you for all the support and understanding. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the story so far.

P.S. Incase anyone is wondering, I always planned to have Aayla survive the destruction of Felucia. I purposely had Durge distracted by the exploding star and Aaylas ship in orbit specifically because I needed her to survive. This part will play a bigger role later.


	47. Chapter 47

Jerome POV

Kelly was making great use of the curved walls of the corridors. She had taken point, an obvious choice considering her speed, and was rushing around corners, using the curve to allow her to keep her speed up by running along them. It was left to me, Sam and Isabel to clear the droids from down the opposite corridors to stop her getting shot in the back.

Halsey had activated her beacon. As the only four Spartans on the planet, it was up to us to get her out safely. Isabel said the beacon was activated from inside ONI command so we could only assume that the threat to Halsey was a large one, she would never activate the beacon if she didn't have to and ONI command had the highest security building on the planet.

We only had one corner left before we reached command. Kelly went first, again, but was thrown violently back into view, followed swiftly by a pouncing HK series droid. Sam reacted quickly, levelling his rifle at it and opening fire, but the droids had been improving. With a speed we had not seen in the droids before, it dodged every shot. Spartans had been trained to be the most efficient kills possible, the droids were starting to calculate our moves.

Sam and Kelly hadn't encountered HK droids before. After the incident on Coruscant, it had been decided that Halsey needed an escort and bodyguard. Sam and Kelly were chosen. When Halsey went to the various ONI facilities scattered around the galaxy they followed, though they had to take their armour off when on Coruscant for Halsey's meetings with the Chancellor.

Due to Sam's lack of experience, he didn't know that the best way to destroy a HK was to shove a fist through its chest rather than plug it full of laser bolts. I charged forward as Sam went to cover Kelly and Isabel went to secure the next corridor. With a quick dodge of the droids blaster fire and a quick one-two punch, the droid was down. I turn around just in time to see Isabel duck behind the corner as a bolt sails past her head. Sam and Kelly had taken over at the opposite side of the turning. I ignited my blade.

I rushed forward to take on the next 5 HK droids. Isabel was giving cover fire while Sam and Kelly followed my example. It took a few minutes to deal with them but it wasn't overly difficult, which was suspicious in and of itself. The explosions weren't as violent as I remember.

We moved up to the door that leads to ONI command and I punched in the code.

'Good, you're here.' Halsey was as calm as ever. She was looking at screens that showed the progress of the battle, both on and above the planet. The fleet was holding itself well, making use of the pioneering tactics of Ahsoka Tano, using small in-system jumps to limit damage to our ships. But, in the end, even one such as myself, who has a limited knowledge of ship to ship warfare, could see that we were losing. In response, Halsey had been syphoning off ships from the defence fleet and was hiding them behind the moon. Thankfully we weren't at risk of being blown up from orbit, so long as the ground cannons and the shield generators are still working.

And that was why the Separatists were so focused on landing troops, Kamino was basically a fortress world. But, Kaminos biggest strength was also its biggest weakness, it was remote. During the formation of the clone army, this was one of the most needed qualities as no one was supposed to stumble across it. Now, well, we were cut off from any reinforcements. Once the Separatists broke through the blockade then they would begin landing even more troops.

The Separatists had obviously prepared for a ground assault. They had converted their entire fleet into a barge of sorts. Every time we break off a piece of an enemy ship droids ride on the debris. Our fleet and ground defences were dealing with the Separatist fleets so we were redirecting portions of bombers to deal with bits and pieces to try and limit the amount of droids on the ground.

That was the second weakness of Kamino, if you could attack from the ground there was little we could do to repel the invaders. While there was a higher concentration of clones on Kamino than anywhere else most had barely left basic training. The amount of battle-ready troops was barely over a full two legion in strength, though they did have reserves available in the form of troops who had passed their final test, they still had another few months before being truly ready. The troopers over 16 biological years old that hadn't passed yet were to lead all clones under the age of 16 into specific shelters at the first sign of an attack. In short, Kamino could outlast the enemy, but as soon as they breach our defences that's when the trouble starts.

And the Separatists know this. In fact, they seem to know a lot about us. Their fleet commander was putting up a decent fight, having prior knowledge of numbers and placement, it was just our superior tactics that were letting us survive the overwhelming odds. Their droid forces also seemed to know exactly where to go to find our most vulnerable facilities, the shield generator, hangar bays, cloning facilities, even the DNA chamber where Jango's genes are stored.

Halsey had abandoned the hangars in favour of using the tight corridors to stop us getting overwhelmed by the droids numbers. The connecting walkways were being watched by sniper teams, hallways and doors were being booby trapped. The barracks were being used to set up ambushes and Halsey was shutting down safety features across the board just so she could overload systems that would hamper the droid advance. It was chaos but organised chaos, just the environment Spartans thrived.

Halsey turned to us. 'Isabel, head to the experimental hangar, we need Broadswords in the air. You're Squad leader.' Isabel took off. 'Sam, we need a Spartan organising the defences. Grievous has been spotted in the southern sectors and is blitzing through our lines, stop him.' I made to protest, I had fought him before so I would be a better choice, but Halsey stopped me with a glance. She turned her attention to Kelly. 'Kelly, I need some errands run. Some of our supply runners and maintenance teams have report droid activity along several of our key routes and ammo is running low, clear the way.' With that, it was just me, Halsey and the Operatives.

'Jerome. You care for your brothers, don't you? You think of the clones as your brothers, don't you? And you are willing to do anything to protect them, aren't you?' I nodded all three times. 'Then I need you to kill General Shaak Ti.'

* * *

Sam POV

Grievous was a monstrous being. Not because of his skill, speed or strength, no, nothing like that, it was solely because of what he had become. Spartans were _enhanced_ by chemistry, biology and cybernetics, Grievous was _consumed_ by them. He might think of them as improvements, but they weren't. He no longer had anything left of himself to improve.

Still, he was a good challenge… for a droid. I prefer Niman due to its flexibility, a good thing too, it seems it was Grievous' weakest style. While he was trained in all Forms and knew all the moves he was too mechanical in his execution to be able to use Niman, something that required a certain creative flair. Grievous saw a move and calculated the best counter to it, which left him vulnerable to the free-flowing creativity of Niman.

When I used a heavy Shien strike, Grievous goes to block. Now all I have to do is turn it into a Mikashi feint and I'm behind his guard. Four blades are only ever as good as one. When you learn how to use one, you only need one; when you learn how to use four, you only ever use four. This is because they are different skills. Just because you can use one blade doesn't mean you can automatically use two. Just because you can use four at once that doesn't mean you know how to use just one. Which explains the dip in skill once I cut off one of Grievous' hands.

Now he was using what little organic part of himself that remained to tap into his more bestial side. The made swings and powerful swipes left plenty of openings. Unfortunately, his speed had increased also, and now I was too slow to take advantage of them. It all came to a head when he scored a hit across my chest.

It was shallow but definitely visible. Grievous had cut into my breastplate, though not deep enough to set off the reactor. That shouldn't have happened. While the cortosis was weaved into the gauntlets, something Grievous was aware of with how deliberate he was with not using any disarming strikes, but the breastplate was lightsaber resistant. So how?

Grievous' shallow laughter reverberated off the walls. 'It would seem that you are not all you are said to be, are you, Spartan?' Another chuckle.

'And neither are you. Someone once described you as a proud Kaleesh warrior, a God of your people. But now, there is nothing left of that proud warrior, only a droid with his voice and memories.' The growl of anger was more than enough to know I had gotten under his wires.

'I am **not** a droid. I have improved myself, these are improvements.' I gave him a dismissive snort.

'Maybe at first. Now, the only difference between you and those HK droids is that you have an organic processor and they don't.' With a furious roar, Grievous charged. His rotating blades were easy enough to dodge and his attacks were so much slower now, his anger sapping his speed in return for strength. Though that wasn't to say the fighting had gotten any easier.

I only had to try and block a strike once to know I wouldn't be able to hold up to it continuously. This took away a lot of defensive options against an opponent who used his offence as a defence, in that he attacked so much I couldn't attack in turn.

Now, with feints and dodges being the only way to keep myself alive, I was rapidly expending energy and experiencing muscle fatigue, something Grievous was not. So, it was time to truly embrace Niman and adapt. I switched from my single blade to the Spartan Saber and thrust forward at my opponent's chest. While I caught two of his blades in the prongs the other was still free to strike.

He thrust at my chest, hoping to skewer me, but I twisted to the side, grabbed my blades handle with both hands and threw it to my right. One of Grievous' blades went sailing down the corridor. There was a little lull in the fight where we both just stared at the bladed as it rolled away. Grievous recovered first. His clawed foot shot up and grasped the front of my armour and he then threw me down the corridor.

I rolled quickly as the cyborgs last two blades crashed into where I just was. His arms had reattached, giving him a final increase in strength, this time without the reduction in speed. After a few more wild thrusts the communicator on Grievous' wrist started to blink and he ran. I made to pursue but Halsey called me back.

I stopped to pick up the blades Grievous had left behind. Halsey would want to take a look and Kelly and I may even be able to keep them afterwards.

* * *

Jerome POV

I stalked my way towards the birthing chambers. Like most of the ARC Troopers, Alpha-17 was more like Jango in his later years rather than his early ones, meaning he was willing to sacrifice anyone to achieve his goals. He was willing to sacrifice thousands of his brothers at the drop of the hat. I wasn't. If it were me, or a group of ODST's perhaps, then the first thing we would do was, as Alpha-17 did, rig the chamber to blow. The difference is we would do everything to protect it first and blowing it up would be a last resort, not our first choice.

General Shaak Ti had come to personally secure the birthing chambers along with a team of ARC Troopers. Like nearly all ARC Troopers, this team was one of the more fiercely loyal to the Republic rather than the Mandalorian way. Which is why I knew, as soon as I gave the order, they would turn on Shaak Ti in an instant.

As soon as I entered the room the Jedi Master turned to greet me. I wasted no time. 'Execute Order 66.' The way the troopers snapped round to face the General put her on the back foot. The room lit up with blazing blue. The blaster bolts and the lightsaber were weaving together into a blanket of plasma. When I noticed that two of the troopers had been killed by the Jedi I charged in.

My sudden and brutal attacks quickly overwhelmed the shocked Jedi and allowed me to cut her down with little to no effort. I hammered onto her hastily erected defences until they broke, allowing me to impale her on my saber, the prongs emerging from the back. I had expected more of a fight from a Jedi Master but I guess that compounding the issue of surprise and betrayal with the speed and strength of a Spartan would do that. I turned to the last two troopers and ordered them to dispose of her body. As soon as they had picked her up, I but a pair of blaster bolts in the back of their heads and set about removing the lot of them.

Thankfully, due to the fact that sometimes the growth pods failed, there was an organic disposer nearby. I took the saber.

Now that the growth chamber was cleared I went to order all the guards stationed at the DNA chamber to come here instead. It would leave the altered DNA of Jango unguarded, but that was what Halsey wanted. It was past time to cut out the sickness that infected the clones and give them back the strength the Jedi were sapping from them.

* * *

Halsey POV

Things were going well. Isabel had helped me to stockpile more ships due to the massive distraction she and her squadron had been when harrying the enemy fleet. Kelly had kept our supply lines open and dealt with any teams of droids that had broken or snuck through our lines. Sam had halted Grievous and Jerome had taken care of Shaak Ti. Everything was going to plan.

Obviously, there was still much fighting left to be done. Despite the fact that our defence fleet was destroyed, at least as far as the Separatists were concerned, the enemy fleet was still being pounded by our base defences. The Separatists weren't fools, they knew they would never take the planet or the city and hold it, in part thanks to our heavy defences. This entire raid was meant to cripple us.

The best way to do that would be to knock out our ability to resupply troops to the war effort. Killing our youngest clone troopers had been Grievous' job. His quadruple lightsabers and enhanced speed and strength would allow him to carve a path right to our most vulnerable members. And he would have too without Sam. Sam had never been one of the top Spartan warriors, but he was still in the top third of them at least, unlike Jerome. It would have made more sense to switch the two around because then Sam would have help to deal with his foe and Jerome can be left to deal with Grievous on his own. But this wasn't about who gets which opponent, this was about the reason for fighting them. Sam would have killed Shaak Ti just because I told him too, Jerome would too but he would wonder why. Fred made a good second for John, Sam was a good person to support him, Cortana was his shoulder to lean on but he was lacking an equal. That's what I want from Jerome.

Sam would have killed Shaak Ti just because I told him too, Jerome would too but he would wonder why. Fred made a good second for John, Sam was a good person to support him, Cortana was his shoulder to lean on but he was lacking an equal. That's what I want from Jerome. John needs someone who can fight on par with him and think on par with him, a sort of living shadow. John will need to have someone he can trust implicitly to do anything that is needed and have the ability to actually pull it off. He needed a replacement, should one ever be required.

For the Separatist, after killing all the young clones, the next best move would be to destroy or steal the Jango sample. While that does mean we would have enough reinforcements for the next few months, from whoever survives Grievous, we will be severely hampered in the long run as we cannot produce any more troops. At least, that's what I want the Separatists to believe.

I had Jerome take troops from guarding the DNA for a reason. I wanted Ventress to take it. As the only trained assassin, she would be heading straight there while the troops are distracted by Grievous. This worked in my favour two-fold.

First, by removing the DNA it will allow the Separatists to feel more confident that they can succeed. While it can be bad to improve your enemies moral it will help to make them bolder. This will then give us an easier time because they will be removing troops from their key worlds to try and reclaim territory. They would send wave after wave to reduce our forces, believing they would be able to exhaust our troop supply. But we wouldn't. The second reason I didn't mind is that I have a replacement, a set of _unaltered_ Jango DNA. This would give them a freedom they currently don't possess. Men who want to fight, fight harder than those who are forced to.

It seems like Grievous had been recalled by Ventress. She had the DNA and sent a message to Grievous to retreat. They seemed to be heading to one of the hangars. I let them go. At present Ventress and Grievous were needed to help sell the illusion that the Separatists had won this battle.

I sent Kelly to go and collect the unaltered sample I had stored. With that and Shaak Ti out of the way perhaps we can get back to training some proper soldiers. Skirata seems like a good choice for a department head, he will even listen to some of my suggestions for improvements to the training regime. It wouldn't even be that hard to convince Palpatine to take on Skirata, he had enough success with Null. After the loss of both Jedi Master Ti in a heroic last stand against the droid forces and Jango's DNA we need to turn what clones we have left into something exceptional.

Obviously, I don't want Palpatine knowing about the continued creation of clone forces so I would have to get rid of his only other contact on the planet. Lama Su. Well, a droid could get lucky and stumble upon our esteemed president and kill him. _Oh, woe is me_. To have lost such a dear friend in such a way, tragic.

Looking back at the fleet in orbit I noticed that they were preparing to jump to hyperspace. Excellent, I gave the order. 'Drop the Cage.' Under half of the remaining ships in the enemy fleet jumped to hyperspace, the rest just lurched forwards. So it does work.

The Cage was an idea I had been toying around with for a while now. The concept was simple, if an enemy can't jump to hyperspace then they are trapped. Obviously, the execution is a bit more complex. Basically, I rigged the hyperspace beacons in the next hyperspace jump point so that I can turn it on and off at will. The natural remoteness of the Kaminoan system means that we can easily trap someone trying to enter or leave. The main problem is this is a two-way street.

When we restrict travel, we restrict travel for everyone, and that was why I had stockpiled ships from our defence fleet. With the planetary guns still pounding at the Separatist fleet, and the remains of our fleet jumping into formation around the Separatists, it wasn't long before I received a surrender transmission from the Fleet Commander, someone named Shonn Volta. I would like to talk to them personally. It was rare for a Separatist commander to surrender, most just throw what forces remain at us in the hopes of getting lucky enough to escape.

'You are playing a dangerous game. There is only so much I can shield from Sidious. Do not overextend your hand.' Bane had become a semi-permanent figure here. He was getting more and more anxious for me to fulfil my end of our bargain, and I would, soon. I just need to make sure that Palpatine suspected nothing.

The Dark Lord of the Sith had been very mild to what I had been expecting, though he was hardly like other Sith. For one he lacked the self-aggrandizing of other Sith, just being confident of his power and place in the galaxy. Another thing was I think he enjoyed having his hand in galactic events again. It must have been so boring sitting around his old estate on Ciutric IV.

With the enemy forces deactivated we could now begin moving them to storage. I wasn't stupid enough to bring them planetside so I was sending them to a deep storage facility on Kaminos moon. I may have use of them at some point in the future.

* * *

A/N: I'm sorry. Please don't hurt me. Getting settled in was harder than I expected. That and the Uni I've moved to had freshers fair which took up a bit of my time. Still, I start the course on Monday but I should have time to write still, just don't expect it to be every two days anymore.

God. Living on your own can be exhausting.


	48. Chapter 48

Jennis POV

'Hood's latest shipment has arrived. He threw in some M-series clone rifles too. I can't say I prefer them to the WESTAR's, but they do their job. Far better range with a bigger punch, but the things are too large to wield properly. Give me a slim, sleek Westar 20 series any day. One of those things can burn through armour like it wasn't even there if you give it a couple of seconds.' Kormma was a good man, if a bit waffly when he gave his reports. As one of the original members, and because he had a good head for numbers, he had been given a seat on my informal council. As Mandalorians we choose our leaders and commanders based on ability and trust, while he was a bit lacking in the ability department he had an undying loyalty to the cause, and thus, my trust.

'Enough, Kormma.' The man quickly quietened. I was getting a bit restless, and so were a lot of the others. The Reclaimers had come together for one purpose, to reclaim our heritage, and we had shown our commitment by declaring we had a Mandalore candidate to oppose Vizsla, except…

Halsey had been good to us and we had returned the favour, trusting her with more than we would trust to anyone else. She effectively leads the reclaimers and I was little more than a figurehead. The problem was she had me saying so much about restoring the old ways and about our future Mandalore but we had done little towards achieving said promises or even revealing our choice of Mandalore, the people wouldn't wait forever. This deal we had going with Hood was a good step in the right direction but it wasn't enough. While we had taken more and more gang territory and absorbed them into our ranks, to bolster numbers, we were in no state to take on Death Watch.

We needed to bolster morale.

The best way to do that would be to reveal to the other members who our chosen Mandalore is. Halsey wanted to keep it between the higher ups of the group, and I agreed, but the regular men and women who had joined us and believed in our promises were getting restless. The main problem would be if Hood or Satine ever find out who we have chosen to support then we could lose the support of the Mandalorian government and the support of the new Mandalorian Army, something we desperately need. Halsey had been enough to keep us alive and well while also allowing us to grow at a reasonable pace but Hood had increased operations to a whole new level, bolstering support, our public image and our resources in one move. Sure he was using us to route out the Death Watch without putting his men at risk but I didn't mind, we were removing Death Watch from the planet. The tradeoff was we were now dependant on him to survive, as he well knew.

If Hood decided to pull his support of us and give it to another group that opposed Death Watch we would crumble into ourselves within the week. And that's why we were keeping our support of the Master Chief a secret. While many saw him as a man who embodied the Mandalorian ways some saw him as a loose cannon. Some didn't even accept him as being Mandalorian, though this was a thankfully small amount. Until Halsey assessed where Hood stood on the matter he could not be told.

'How are the newest recruits?' With our new territory came new soldiers that we had absorbed from the various gangs we've defeated. Some could be a bit confrontational but they were generally well behaved enough to follow most orders. Though we used them as expendable infantry more than anything they were good men.

'Well. Incident reports have dropped dramatically since last week's incident.' These bounty hunters and gang members were always pushing boundaries and seeing how far we would bend before either breaking or snapping back. Last week was the last straw. I personally executed 7 of the more unruly members. The others calmed down easy enough.

'Good. What's the word from Onderon? I've heard Death Watch have their troops but that it wasn't exactly smooth sailing.' Apparently not. It turns out that a coup had happened after 50,000 of Onderons Beast Riders had been sent to reinforce the Death Watch. A combined effort of one General Tandin, the son of the previous Onderon senator and the recently captured rebels lead a successful coup to depose King Rash and reinstate King Dendup.

Seeing the hands of the Republic in his reinstatement Dendup quickly removed the planet from the protection of both the Republic and the Separatists and turned to the Neutral Systems Alliance, which was still in disarray, for protection. Even months in they still had yet to decide on a replacement for Satine. With Satine still the technical leader of Mandalore she was also the technical leader of the NSA. In reality, it was Hood who held the power and ran the NSA with the help of the NSA council. The same people who couldn't decide on who to follow because they were all trying to take the power for themselves.

Still, that was 50,000 more soldiers we had to deal with, and their beasts too, and whose whereabouts are unknown. Halsey had given me assurances the Death Watch would soon be dealt with. I believed her. Soon a new Mandalore would rise from the burning ashes Satine had left behind, and would reforge our people back into the sword and shield we once were. For the glory of Kad Ha'rangir.

* * *

Rex POV

It turns out we weren't needed after all. Jumping into the space around Kamino had revealed that the invaders had been repelled, though with heavy casualties. Word on the ground was worse. We had lost Jango's DNA and were now a finite force.

It wasn't until this moment that I realised how much of a comfort being a clone actually was. To know that we would have a seemingly infinite amount of troops to replace us, to know we could never actually lose by all of us being killed, had been a constant comfort that I never realised I had. Now it was gone. Word was that we had also lost the Jedi in charge of training the next generation of troops. I didn't know how I felt about that one.

On one hand, we had lost the person in charge of training the next generation of troopers, a huge loss. On the other, we could now bring the standard of training back up to the same standard as the pre-war trained troopers.

With these developments, I've been told that there was now going to be a shift in Republic war doctrine. While the battle doctrine was still, _keep some distance and shoot anything that clanks_ the war doctrine was now shifting from _throw troops at the problem_ to _keep the troops alive_. I hear there were shock waves rippling through the Senate at the news that Jango's DNA had been lost. the full might of the Republics industrial power was going into creating new and better gear for what clones remained.

It was rumoured we might soon be fighting alongside repurposed droids. None of us were feeling happy about that one, but I could see the point. With all the spoils from the Confederacy surrender, it wasn't a surprise we now had droids laying about somewhere waiting for orders. Still, all this speculation was getting me nowhere. The only reason I was planetside is that Halsey had requested me personally.

When I entered the command centre for ONI I couldn't help but shiver. War had a certain fire to it, a certain urgency and primal rush to it. ONI command was cold and bright. The surgical feel was worse here than anywhere else on Kamino, and that's saying something. It felt like every pair of eyes cut into me, even those from my brothers in the Spartan 3's. I was directed towards a door off to the side of the room which opened for me. I stepped in to see the Director's back. The door shut and locked behind me.

'Sit.' A simple command brought forth with an even tone that set off every alarm I had as a soldier. I was almost too scared to move, 'Captain,' but I moved at Halsey's gentle prodding. I moved around her and the table to take a seat at her front. She withdrew an artefact and placed it in front of me.

'Do you know what this is?' I shook my head. She explained it was a Sith Holocron, found on Ciutric IV.

'So that's why we were sent. I had wondered why you agreed to let the Chief take such an unimportant mission as his first command. You had another objective, as you always do.' An ominous voice rose from the Holocron. It brought forth a sickly laughter that chilled my bones.

'You have a lot more sense than most, boy.'

'Boy?' Of all the things to get indignant about, like Halsey's apparent betrayal of the Republic, I don't know why being called a boy was the one I had an issue with.

'You are young in the Force, boy, and that is something no Kaminoan can accelerate. Now, we shall move onto important matters. From henceforth I am to travel within your commander's possession and train you in the ways of the Force.' Wow, wow. Hold up.

'And why would you do that? And for that matter, why are we even working with you? You're a Sith.' The smoky figure gave another of their ominous laughs.

'Once, maybe, but the name Sith has changed much from my time. Once, any could be Sith called a Sith Lord but, when everyone has power, no one has it. I, Darth Bane, rid the galaxy of the Sith's false illusion of power and remade my order into an order to be respected once more by having all who came after me and who follow my teachings follow the Rule of Two. As I am sure you are aware, this is no longer the case.' I did. Baluq, Ventress, Dooku, all claimed to be Sith, I didn't realise there should only have been two of them.

'That still doesn't explain why we're working with you.' Bane gave a sigh.

'The Sith want power, this is true, and they want to lead… but do you know why we want this? Perhaps not, only a Sith would truly understand. We want power so no can challenge our rule and we want to rule to bring about peace and order. That is the goal of the Sith.

'If there are too many Sith then there is no clear chain of command to follow. This leads to infighting which creates chaos and war, something I believe a Mandalorian can understand.' I shifted in my seat. I didn't like the fact he could read me so well.

'And you want to, what, return to power? No offence but I think that's a little out of the realm of possibilities in your current state.' The figure turned to Halsey for a second. She gave Bane a brief nod.

'It is, but that is not the deal I made. In life I was naive, I believed that the Sith could rule. I was wrong. Our greed and lust for power has been our downfall time and time again. Now, I have a new objective and you will help me complete it. The Sith will still follow the Rule of Two, I the Master and you the Apprentice, but the role of the Sith will change. No longer will the Sith seek to rule, now we shall seek to advise.

'I have seen what happened to my order after my death, for a time I believed we were heading down the right path. I was wrong. When we guided the galaxy from the shadows we achieved more in a single millennium than ever before, but, as soon as we got close to achieving power, chaos emerged.' So this war had been started to further the Sith agenda. My time with Skywalker, Kenobi and Ahsoka had taught me much in regards to the Sith and Dooku didn't fit well into the traditional definition of the Sith. Things were making more sense now, Dooku was keeping up an image of the gentile old man who was only fighting the Republics injustice because they struck first. Wait.

'We struck first. How could the Sith have started the war if we struck first?' Halsey stepped forward.

'Because there are Sith within the Senate.' This was too much. To have enough influence to have issued the order to attack Geonosis was a scary thought. But…

'That would mean they knew about the Clone Army. Why would they arrange for an attack on the Separatists if they didn't already know they had an army to attack with? How high up is this Sith?' I looked to Halsey for answers. She said nothing.

After a long moment, Halsey eventually said that this mystery Sith was _high enough to influence events_ , like that was any help. She then went on to assure me that the situation was being taken care of, in due course. Still, that didn't explain why we were working with a Sith against the Sith.

Sure, Bane said he wanted to remake the order. But how? And why was Halsey willing to help? 'We shall become the galaxies guiding hand. The advisors to the Mandalore. We would have the power to influence events to the proper course while removing the temptation of ultimate power. We cannot influence Mandalorian rule, just the direction each ruler will go. The power of the Sith will finally be unchained, but focused, directed, rather than allowed to run rampant across the stars. That is not the will of the Sith. In time, you will become the advisor to your Mandalore, and advise them on matters of the Force. The Force wants balance, both the dark and the light, let it guide your actions and the actions of your Master Chief.' With that, we were done. Halsey gave me a reminder to not mention anything to anyone, as if I needed to be told, and that she would be informing the Chief personally. He would also be the one to hold onto the Holocron until it was time for my lessons and, if I was ever influenced by Bane or the dark side, Chief would remove it from my presence, with force if necessary.

By destroying it if necessary.

* * *

John POV

'I take it this isn't sanctioned by the Chancellor.' Halsey was sending the 501st to Carlac. Officially it was to deal with the outcrops of droids on the planet, a bit heavy handed to send an entire legion but Halsey's excuse was we were still officially on leave so we get an easy assignment. It was flimsy, and a poor reason for starting a galactic incident, but it was the only one we had. We really had no reason to be there at all.

We were really being sent to Carlac to deal with the Death Watch outpost on the planet. It was swiftly growing in size as they were abandoning Concordia to the Reclaimers, who had made solid ground and were pushing hard. Halsey wanted me and the 501st down there so we would start an incident. If Death Watch were smart they would let us go about our business, they had yet to be officially recognised as Separatist by either Senate and so were classed as a Mandalorian terrorist group in official reports. This means they were Mandalore's problem.

If we attack first we break the Senate's agreement to let Mandalore deal with the problem and only supply the men to help train their army, this will bring a lot of backlash onto the Republic. If Death Watch attack first then we have a legitimate reason to muscle our way in, though this was very unlikely. Halsey had planned for several of her Spartan 3's to fake a Death Watch attack on the 501st if they decide to play it smart.

'No, it isn't. The reason we have a Military High Command and ONI is so qualified people can take over when the Chancellor is indisposed.' I just tilted my head towards her. The thing about wearing a helmet with a wide, tinted visor is that no one knows what you're really looking at. Normally that's a plus, seeing as how it can be quite imitating or allows me to fain interest, though sometimes you really have to angle your head to let people know where you're looking.

'He won't be pleased.' Halsey gave me a deadpan stare.

'I don't care.' At Halsey's glower, I threw up my hands. I was only saying. 'Besides, he wants this Mandalore situation moved along just as much as I do.'

'We'll be stepping on a lot of toes. Hood won't take this lying down, then there's the rest of the Clan Alor's to consider.' Halsey gave a dismissive hum.

'Hood will grumble and complain but he won't be too hard to convince, and the clan Alors will follow him. It was Satine that advocated for no Republic intervention and it was the Senate who voted on it, Mandalore as a whole had no say. Now that Kurt, Lucy and the Wolf Pack have exemplified themselves, and the fact we have the Reclaimers singing your praises within multiple levels of the new Mandalorian Army and on Concordia, there shouldn't be too much of a problem with an openly Mandalorian unit lead by a highly praised Mandalorian commander coming to take care of a Mandalorian problem. Now is our best chance, before Hood can make his move and while Mandalorian respect for us is high.' I nodded.

We moved on to discussing what would be needed for the operation, when and where men had to die, both mine and the undercover 3's. It wasn't a pleasant thing to discuss how and when to kill your own men and allies but it had to be done, to further the cause. We were close now, so very close, to finally bringing Mandalore back to its former glory. It was becoming re-militarised, the council was back and we were purging the undesirable elements. Mandalore was nearly whole again. All that was left was to bring the Gods back to the people and decide on a Mandalore.

I was still unsure who Halsey would choose in the end. Sam was a good choice, Fred routinely scored higher than I did and was an immensely capable commander and Kurt had built up a good rapour on Mandalore, though somehow I feel though Halsey might choose someone else. I know she was pushing for me to step up and take command, Cortana wasn't half as subtle as her mother, but I was still unsure. There were many candidates better than myself. I was a good soldier and a decent commander, but I wasn't a leader. At least, I didn't think so.

'And why did you need Rex earlier?' Halsey turned away and walked towards her desk. After inserting a key and opening her draw she pulled out a small red pyramid.

'To start his training.' We didn't say a word, I just stared at the object.

'That's a Sith Holocron.' Halsey turned to face me.

'Is that a problem?' She sounded defencive. Good.

I stepped forward, angling my helmet down towards her face. 'Yes.' Her eyes drilled into the golden visor, searching for what I didn't know. As the silence between us started to once again stretch, she spoke.

'Good. I raised neither a coward or a fool. You are right to be suspicious but please, trust me here, I would never unduly risk the lives of one of your men.' She rested a hand on my shoulder. It was the first time I noticed how small she really was. Halsey had always been this larger than life figure to me and the others, an invincible force that would bow to none, conceded only when it put her ahead. Halsey always came out on top, but now I saw her for how fragile she really was. She was just as fragile as every other living being in the galaxy. 'I would never risk you.'

I turned my attention to her dainty hand back to her eyes. I saw it. 'You're dying.'

The Mother of Spartans, the most feared woman in the entirety of the galaxy, was failing to the one enemy that no one can defeat, not even me, Time. Halsey just gave a brief nod. 'And I am making the arrangements needed for your future, the future of the Spartans and of our people. Trust in me John, trust me now. I will never lead you astray.' I slowly reached up to lightly grasp her cheek. 'Mothers aren't supposed to have favourite children, but you and Cortana were mine. Bring peace to the galaxy John, just as I know you can, become the man you were always meant to be. There has been no true, sitting, Mandalore in over a century, it is time that changed. Reclaim the title as your own. Become the next true Mandalore.'

I took off my helmet and set it next to the holocron. I angled Halsey's head and bowed my own, making our foreheads touch. 'Yes, mother.' She gave one, brief, strangled sob.

'Thank you.' Halsey kissed the crown of my head and handed me back my helmet. I took a moment to look at the golden visor that stared at me. This was my face, just as all helmets were the faces of every mandalorian. If I was to be Mandalore, reclaim our traditions, then my helmet had to be different, not the same as every other Spartans, I needed to be seen as something more than all the rest. I needed a new face.

But this could wait for now. I placed the helmet back on my head. I jokingly asked Halsey if she was going to hand me the holocron too, to which she replied she had never been able to force me to do anything, now was no different. I picked up the ancient Sith resting place and moved to the door. I stepped past the threshold, throwing one glance over my shoulder to the small, fragile woman behind me before the doors closed behind me. Somehow, it felt weird, in a way I can't really describe. There was only one word I could use for the feeling.

Final.


	49. Chapter 49

**First I would like to apologise for my near two-month absence, between a four day holiday, getting sick, a family member nearly dying, getting sick again, a friend dying, uni assignments and getting sick again it hasn't been an easy two months. Again, sorry that I couldn't get this uploaded. I've been sitting on the chapter for a month now waiting to proofread it but I just haven't been able to get myself to do it.**

 **I will be writing every weekend so you can expect a new chapter every work or month, depending on how fast I work. Sorry for not keeping up with my original upload schedule but I just can't keep working at such a rate.**

Ahsoka POV

Night duty was the worst. You didn't get a reprieve from daily training and then you're expected to stay awake through the night to be on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary. Still, I suppose it made some sense. Carlac was a basically worthless world to everyone else in the galaxy except for Death Watch, even Mandalore didn't want it, so what was the point in having people on high alert for a foe you know doesn't exist. Night watch was basically just to get us used to being on lookout at night.

Carlac was the only planet in the Mandalorian sector that wasn't inhabited by the Mandalorian people. Even though they live on a basically dead world, the Mandalorian people aren't stupid. They, like the rest of the galaxy, preferred to occupy world with ideal living conditions as it was easier and takes less effort. Mandalorians can, and have, colonised worlds that others have deemed uninhabitable. With Carlac, however, they haven't had a reason too. Instead, the task of colonising the world had been left to the Ming Po.

The Ming Po were humanoids that did well in cold weather. They had evolved on worlds with colder climates than most of humanity. Still, they weren't adapted to conditions as harsh as Carlac's. The reason they had even attempted to settle on the planet is the loss of their original home world. How it happened I don't know, the Ming Po aren't exactly important enough for the galaxy at large to take an interest in their history, but Carlac was theirs now. At least until Death Watch moved in. Oh, and some Sepy's too.

The Mandalorian sector was right on the edge of the frontlines of the Clone Wars, making it a very important sector for both the Republic and the Separatists, the fact that it was colonised by one of the greatest warrior sects in the galaxy was just a bonus, anyone who controlled Mandalore controlled the Mandalorians after all. Death Watch, as part of their agreement with Dooku, helped them set up a long range listening outpost that would allow the Separatists to gain intel on the Republic. I had been tempted to try and sabotage their new listening outpost but settled for informing Lord Hood instead. It turned out to be moot anyway.

I stretched out my arms and gave a yawn. Republic forces had arrived to deal with the outpost two days ago. They went about their business and we kept out of their way. With the Senate's decision to stay out of the fight the Republic forces couldn't actually do anything about us without starting a diplomatic incident and sending even more Separatist support to Death Watch.

I had been messing about with Force Enhancement for about an hour now. I was normally very careful about using my powers, but, with Force Enhancement being relatively inconspicuous, so long as I wasn't moving there wasn't really much to worry about. The first thing was limb enhancement, a skill we were taught as younglings, just to get back into it. I had just gotten bored when I decided to see if I could enhance my senses. I was glad I did.

At first, I dismissed it, the wisp of wind. It was only slight, nothing worth noting, at least not until I heard it again. Eyesight was one of the easiest senses to enhance, making it an obvious first choice to find out what that sound was.

Three bodies were crumpled up on the floor, bleeding from their throats. A quick search revealed the killer was a Nikto with a ceremonial gown and a long-bladed staff that had just snuck upon another guard and, with a single thrust, stabbed the man through his spine with the tip of the blade slicing through his voice box, silencing him.

Our base was a temporary one, not meant to last us more than a few short months, but we hadn't skimped out too much on its construction. 10 feet tall, thick duracrete walls, complete with parapets and guard towers, surrounded a slew of tents and a smattering of duracrete buildings. The only standout feature was the hangar and that was only because it was made of durasteel, and housed the Onderons Beasts.

As a member of the night watch I was assigned a small patrol route to monitor and a guard tower to occupy. Each guard tower was made of durasteel beams and topped with a thin perimeter of corrugated sheet metal. It didn't offer much in the way of defence, but then it wasn't really meant too. The towers only standout feature was a button which sounded a general alarm throughout the base.

Whoever the Nikto was he wasn't alone, and if he was then he was foolish to jump into a den of Mandalorians all on his lonesome. I was planning on raising the alarm when I heard it again, the same wisp of air as before. I turned just in time to see a blade thrust towards me. I dropped into a roll and rushed for the alarm, racing up the stairs as fast as I dared, but the Nikto hadn't given up so easily. He thrust the butt of his staff towards me, hoping to hit the lower part of my spine. I spun quickly, grabbing at the bottom of the staff, and twisted, throwing the warrior over my shoulder. He hit the ground hard, losing the air in his lungs in the process. I flipped the staff around and stabbed him downwards. I noticed something different about the second assassin, he had a dark blue symbol stitched to his vest pocket. I didn't stop to investigate, instead choosing to sound the alarm.

As soon as the general alarm had sounded all hell broke loose. As predicted, the Niktos had allies and they had hidden in the snow banks around the base. While Death Watch was still scrambling out of their tents the enemy wasted no time in using everything they had against us.

The guard towers were the first thing targeted, rockets slamming into them and knocking the flimsy structures to the ground, if I hadn't been a Jedi I would have gone down with them. Having sensed the oncoming missiles, I dived over the edge of the steel sheets into the snow below, firing off a short burst of my jetpack to slow my decent.

The whizzing of the plasma was something I hadn't heard for months now, it was refreshing to once again be under its cover. The crackling of the air that was heated by the plasma, the bubbling snow it had struck, the disorientating explosions, I had missed it all. As much as Jedi were Keepers of the Peace they were scholars first, but not me. I belonged on the battlefield and, during the course of this war, I had made it my home.

After hitting the snow, I stood up and shook myself off. Everyone was running to and fro, grabbing weapons and. I set off to the command centre, to meet up with the other Valkyries, before an explosion rocked the base. Then, there was a high-pitched wail, one I knew very, very well. Cobras.

They had been deployed into their hulk mode. I couldn't see them, but I knew that sound too well for it to be anything but. Why? What was the Republic doing here attacking Death Watch?

I will hold up my hands and admit I haven't been keeping up with galactic events as closely as I should have been, even so, I doubt something like an escalation of tensions between the Republic and Death Watch wouldn't have become the talk of the camp at some point.

It only took a few rounds before the Cobras high penetration rounds had blown several holes in the defensive wall. After that, it only took a few full powered shots and some rockets before they made a hole big enough to send in troops. Not that they would.

The first thing the Republic would do, after a Cobra bombardment, is send in the Sabre tanks, cut down the rank and file members whose only use are to overwhelm the Republic with numbers. Next comes the infantry, now it was their turn to overwhelm the enemy.

Republic doctrine was to pour wave after wave onto a compromised enemy position until they had secured it. Once the regular clones had dealt with the rest of the rank and file and highlighted the more experienced and better trained enemy troops then the ONI groups are sent in to deal with them. The standard Republic strategy to maximise gain no matter the cost, though such doctrine had been up for review since the attack on Kamino.

It seems we were up against an unorthodox commander.

Bo Katan had drilled us regularly on Republic strategy and on how to subvert it. The regular Death Watch members had set up defensive lines around the breach. We had lines of rocketeers, Westar mounted Gatling's, and some turbo turrets to deal with anything that came through the breach. Shame we forgot about the people already inside the base.

A Nikto jumped out of the snow with a roar, throwing the defences into chaos. One unexpected variable and they all fell apart, so much for Mandalorian discipline. I ran to help them deal with the Nikto but it was too late.

ODST troopers had flown over the wall and were raining down on us, an apt description considering their bolts are blue, and no one was prepared to deal with them. I slammed a kick into the side of the Niktos leg, dropping him to a knee. I threw an arm around his neck and twisted, using his body as a shield.

I had barely rolled the Nikto off of myself when I saw an ODST charging at me. I reacted. I dodged the burst of rifle fire by ducking in close. I slammed my forearm into the side of the gun and knocked it out of the trooper's hand and, without missing a beat, he switched to his flame thrower. I rolled backwards and watched as steam rose between us. Capitalising, I leap at him through the steam, wanting to take him off guard.

This ODST was obviously well trained, swiftly blocking my kick. I drew my vibro dagger and lunged at him. He had to be a veteran, no trooper any greener could hold themselves against a Jedi in close quarters, even an unenhanced Jedi, we had spent too long training with lightsabers. It was only by seeing a small opening that I was able to win. I managed to punch him in the chest, making him stagger. With that stagger I finally managed to make a swipe at his arm and then stab him in the neck.

I was so shocked about having killed a clone I nearly didn't react in time to the ODST charging at me from behind. I threw out my hand and he dropped to the floor. I realised that, having just used Force Wound, I couldn't let him live. He knew I was Force Sensitive, I couldn't let him live.

I gave the trooper a silent apology and twisted my had. The sickening sound of twisted bones will be with me for some time. I couldn't be found out, not until the time was right. My work here was too important. If the Separatists gain control of the Mandalorian people, they would have one of the best army within the year. As soon as Vizsla gave the word every Mandalorian across the galaxy would rise to fight the Republic.

I stared at the trooper at my feet. His helmet, like all ODSTs, was black in colour, but his was special. There was a slight discoloration on the top of the helm. I knelt and turned his head only to drop it from shock. Jaig eyes. More than that, deep, blue Jaig eyes. The 501st.

With this realisation I slowly turned back to the battle going on behind me. It was only because I was a Jedi that I noticed it, the slinking black shape. Whip the Vornskr was here, hunting Death Watch, hunting me. I ran.

I knew he had my scent, how couldn't he. Vornskrs could smell force sensitivity and could hunt down and kill Jedi. You had to be skilled with Force Enhancement if you wanted to run from one. I was really begging to hate working undercover

I ran through the burning tents towards the command centre, I couldn't go up against a Vornskr. The pounding of his feet was getting louder and louder, but I couldn't do anything about it. I was praying for something to happen.

It seems there were Gods after all, because this certainly wasn't the will of the Force. I turned around to see the hungry Vornskr wrestling with a Strill, my Strill, Aruetii. I didn't have time to help her as another Valkyrie had caught up to me. Kandosii'la had apparently been following Aruetii to try and find me. She was happy to see me alive and I, surprisingly, was happy to see her. She grabbed my hand and started to run back to command.

I asked what was going on, but she seemed to know little more than I did. The only new piece of information she had was the fact that someone had cut down the communications array as soon as the assault started, another Nikto no doubt.

The reason Kandosii'la had come to find me was to deliver my orders. I was to join up with her and the rest of her Valkyrie squad to help try and free the Onderon Beasts in the hangar. The hangar was filled with speeders and cages. Bo Katarn wanted the Beasts out of their cages to cause as much havoc as possible, she knew as well as I did we didn't have the numbers to put up a decent fight against a regular Republic Legion let alone the Master Chiefs.

Getting to the hangar was slow going. The Master Chief was one of the more creative commanders in the GAR and that was working against us. He had been using his ODSTs to slingshot his Commando troopers behind our lines, planning on crushing us from a surprise pincer movement. As we're trying to fend off the enemy rushing towards us we also have to fend off the ones coming in from behind. We fought our way passed any ODST team we came across, but it was costly. Out of the ten of us that started only 4 of us made it to our hangar. We nearly got shot by the hangar guard before they realised they just opened fire on Valkyries, not to mention the boss's daughter.

We didn't both with releasing the locks on the cages, the power was out so there wasn't a way for us to release them anyway, and just blew them off instead. It was easy to corral the beasts outside as the various creatures were doing their level best to get away from the fires inside the base.

It was one of the three rancors that lead the charge. It looked to be a bull, the extra tusks might have been a clue, and it barrelled through the durasteel gates that weren't opening fast enough for its taste. The females were right behind it. When the Bull charged through two Sabre tanks and slammed another I felt some small measure of hope, maybe we could clear a path an evacuate. It lasted all of about a second. One second, that was the time it took between a Cobra firing and that shot bursting through the Rancors head. The females were picked off moments later.

So, this was the legendary prowess of the 501st, the most feared legion in the galaxy. No warning shots, no finding range or distance and they didn't miss. One shot, one kill, and that's with a tank. I doubt any other legion has such precision

The Acklay's took this as a challenge. One scuttled towards the Rancors opening before a figure in brown and green Mandalorian armour landed in front of it and fired his back rocket right into the creature's mouth. The Acklay's body collapsed and started to convulse, twitching and twisting. When the warrior raised his head, I saw a stylised Acklay on his helm and a pair of Westar 34's in hand.

The 34's rare as Westar stopped making them. They were an experimental design that were made to have a higher heat resistance, for a high rate of fire and for sustained combat. The reason the 34's were discontinued is because they were highly unstable and liable to blow up in your hand if you pushed them too far. They purposely compromised the magnetic fielding technology that is used to hold the plasma together. This resulted in a more corrosive blast that had them outlawed by galactic regulations. They were a favourite amongst bounty hunters, if they could get their hands on one. I've only heard of one person having two, Jango Fett.

Reeks were great domestic animals, especially as pack animals, but that wasn't to say they weren't dangerous. It took great effort to tame a Reek so some, like the Beast Riders, decided to harness their aggression instead. The Onderons Reek pack was becoming agitated. With the death of the Acklay, they were becoming more and more aware of the stench of death surrounding them. Not a good thing for anyone in the hangar.

It was near impossible to stop a Reek charge, the best thing you could do was dodge. It took military grade durasteel, the same type used on starships, to stop one. No one wanted them to charge. Well, no one but the pack itself. Thankfully they saw the Acklay killer as the more immediate threat.

While their skin and bone density were strong enough to withstand almost anything the same cannot be said for their eyes. The Mando was firing shot after shot, taking full advantage of the fact his weapons don't overheat, and shot down two of them. The rest didn't stop, just pushed their dead brethren out of the way. Yet the Mandalorian before them didn't move, didn't even flinch.

A green blur sped across the hangar and the lead Reek was sent flying head over heel, tumbling through the air. The next Reek was brought to a screeching halt. It was only when the beast stopped that I saw the green armoured hands on the bottom tusks. He was here.

With a heave the Master Chief picked up and threw the Reek to the side. The last seemed to take this as a challenge. The final Reek wasn't the largest of the pack, but his red skin showed he was the most aggressive.

A Reeks skin changes upon changes in its diet. They are herbivores and need to eat plants to survive. That being said, it wasn't uncommon for Reeks to be forced to eat meat, which turned their skin red and heightened aggression, though they still need plant matter to survive. With two strikes of its front foot the Reek had settled into its charging stance. It seems he saw the Master Chief as a new competitor for pack leader.

The Chief had settled into a stance of his own, taking on a sprinter's starting stance with his feet being slightly apart and a hand on the floor. The Reek gave a bellow and charged. The Chief roared his suits thrusters in challenge and was off his mark as soon as the beast started to move, hooking his arm under its neck, using his thrusters to help him get the height required to force the Reek onto its hind legs before finishing it off with a chokeslam. He then turned to us.

Kandosii'la was as quick on the draw as ever, she was lucky I was there to stop her. I grabbed her pistol before she could bring it to bare. The other two weren't as fortunate. The first Valkyrie to fire at the Chief scored at shot to his head, though the flare of gold showed how effective that was. It was barely a second later that she was rag dolling her way back across the hangar. The second whipped around for a shot of her own but the Chief was too fast again. His hand snapped up and covered hers, squeezing hard enough to break her hand and the pistol in it.

The screams that came from her when the Chief hoisted her up, lifting her so that her feet were barely off the floor, was a noise no sentient being should ever make. With a flick of his wrist the Chief tossed her up, releasing her as he did so, only for him to slam a fist into her chest. The Valkyrie went spinning into the side wall, leaving a trail of fine red mist from her pulverised stomach. To reduce a chuck of a person to little more than pulp with just a punch, the unrestrained strength of a Spartan was too frightening to believe. He turned to us. 'You were wise to surrender.' Kandosii'la was too scared to argue, her usual confidence and bluster missing, though she regained it quickly.

The 501st marched in after Bo Katan's surrender, rounding up their enemies and putting them into binders like they had down it a thousand times before. As some were sent to put of the fires the rest of the legion corralled us all into two lines in the centre of the camp, each side facing the other. At one head of the line was Bo Katan and at the other was the Master Chief. Behind every prisoner there was a member of the 501st, keeping us on our knees.

'Where is Pre Vizsla?' An interrogation? The set up was odd if that was the Chiefs intention. You really didn't want to have a group together to corroborate their stories or convince others to keep quiet. As a Spartan the Chief would have been taught not to have the people he was interrogating together all at once. Spartans were meant to operate in pairs, doing any mission required to further the Republics goals. Chief was the only Spartan commanding anything more than a team of Spartan 3's, even so, he wouldn't forget his basics. So, what was he doing?

The Chief had nearly walked half the way up the row to Bo Katan before he played his hand. Within a flash his Spartan Sabre was out and cutting a random Death Watch troopers head in half, slicing off the top of the skull. The clone behind the now dead prisoner quickly threw off what remained of the man's helmet and held the back of his neck, making the head stand up straight. He asked again.

'Where is Pre Vizsla?' Still, no one was answering. The Chief hadn't deactivated his Sabre, letting the brilliant blue of its unique shape draw the eyes of many. He didn't wait as long this time. With a rising arc another Death Watch member had been cut by the green goliaths' blade, only this time he lost an arm. The mans' screams echoed ominously around the ruined base. The burnt-out tents and broken buildings created the perfect back drop to the horrifying screams.

Having enough of the screams, the Chief grabbed the screaming man by the top of his head and thrust his blade forward. While one of the blades tips pierced the mans' throat the other pierced through his face. After the blade was withdrawn, the 501st trooper behind this target ripped off his prisoners' helmet to reveal the silent agony of a man dying painfully, slowly, yet unable to scream.

The Chief continued his walk.

The calmness of his gait was, perhaps, the most frightening about it. To so calmly kill and torture prisoners of war, something even Mandalorians heavily frowned upon, was beginning to get to some of us. Some had started squirming under our captors' heavy hand but the 501st weren't letting anyone go. This time, the Chief never said a word before killing his next prisoner. He just whipped around and boom. Now we had an Onderon Beast rider with half his head blown off and brains leaking down what was left.

'I won't ask again. Where is Pre Viszla?' He knew we weren't going to talk, he had to. No Mandalorian would talk under this time of cohesion. Still… I was tempted to speak up. Not that I knew anything of course, Viszla's location was a heavily kept secret that no one under captain was allowed to know, not even a member of the esteemed Valkyries. But what the Chief was doing was wrong, he was breaking an intergalactic law on the treatment of prisoners, one that even the Separatists had agreed to uphold, and they were making bioweapons the likes of which had never been seen before.

That's not to say that neither side hadn't already broken the law before, but never so blatantly. Having a black ops sect like ONI guaranteed that some shady stuff had gone on, and to them what was a prisoner of war other than a person who had information they needed. For the Chief to be so open meant he didn't care if people found out. And that was a danger all of its own.

We had taken too long answering. The next target had the blades tips gently pressed into his eye sockets, the Chief left him alive to suffer. His helmet had to be cut off by the Chief as, when the trooper behind him tried to take it off, the metal had hardened on the mans' skin, making it near impossible to rip off.

The next had the blades thrust into his chest. The helmet was still removed, even if only to show the fear on the mans' face.

The Chief went slower on this one. He chose the woman at random, calmly pressing the plasma blade to the side of her metal helm. It sank right in. He didn't cut her, oh no, he just let the blade cook the side of her head as she screamed. It took me a second to realise that the metal was heating up too. While her head cooked one side boiled. Once the screams stopped the Chief removed her helmet, ripping off hair and skin that had fused to the metal. She was the ugliest of all the Chiefs victims.

The next three were chosen at random and swiftly executed with a single shot each. All helmets were removed. He didn't even pause between each kill this time to see if anyone would tell him what he wanted to know. Then someone made the mistake of questioning him.

'Why are you doing this? You're Mandalorian, aren't you? The code says…' The Chiefs hand shot out. The man who spoke up was too busy trying to breath to continue what he was saying.

'The code? You, of all people, would dare quote the Mandalorian code to me. You, who have forsaken what it means to be Mandalorian. You, and the rest of Death Watch, are dar'manda, soulless beings who have forsaken the Resol'nare and all it means. For the past **century** Death Watch has trampled on what it means to be Mandalorian. They have routinely denied the call of their Mandalore, made clan members fight clan members. That's two tenants broken, right there.

'While Satine has broken the tenants too, the only reason she was able to gain power was because of Death Watchs' refusal to listen to their Mandalore. If Tor Vizsla was so upset with Jaster Mareels appointment as Mandalore why did he raise an army instead of fighting him in one on one combat? Why did he deceive the Jedi into killing his successor, Jango Fett, once again failing to fight for the title of Mandalore fairly, and by Mandalorian law?

'Tor Vizsla was dar'manda, and his son has followed in his footsteps. Any who follow him is dar'manda too, and I will show no mercy to people like you. Any man who would conquer and subjugate the Mandalorian people, just to be called Mandalore, is a coward and a traitor. Pre Vizsla plans to invade _my_ home and conquer _my_ people, and you plan to help him. Mandalorians have always, and will always, stand against all those who seek to do us harm, even those we once called family.' So that's what this was about. To the Chief, he wasn't doing anything wrong. His belief that Death Watch was dar'manda justified his treatment of his prisoners, and why no one in the 501st was against this. In their minds, they had every right to dispose of us however they wished.

'The soon I know where Vizsla is, the soon I kill him. The soon he's dead the sooner this ends. Once I have what I need any of you who remain can live your lives however you want, just give me Vizsla and we'll be on our way.' He had gotten to some of them, a lot of them. Thinking it over they knew he was right. Mandalorians helped each other, shared their homes to another who was without, gave food to those who had none of their own. To be Mandalorian was to be family with every other Mandalorian in the galaxy, and family didn't kill family. At least, Mandalorians didn't. Family was perhaps the most important thing about being Mandalorian.

'Mandalore.' A man spoke up and Chief released his grasp. The man was a captain, though not one I remember seeing before. 'Vizsla's heading to Mandalore. Hood and the Reclaimers have been gunning hard for complete control of Concordia, throwing more and more troops onto the moon, and have left Mandalore open to attack.' The Chief moved towards the man and knelt in front of him, bring them eye to eye.

'Why are you stationed here?'

'There's a mole. We managed to narrow it down and brought together everyone we still suspected. We know they've been feeding back to Hood and Vizsla wanted Hood believing he was regrouping here, rather than planning an assaulting Mandalore, Hood only has a limited troop presence to protect the planet.' My heart was beating faster. I was so close, _so close_ , to being caught and I didn't even know it. I didn't even know they knew they had a mole, or that they had narrowed it down so much. The base only had a small contingent of Valkyries and a full legion of regular Death Watch troops with the Onderons being stationed here too.

The Chief placed a hand on the captains' shoulder. 'Thank you.' He had started to turn towards Captain Rex, the clone trooper keeping Bo Katan in check, when the captain spoke up again.

'Wait. Take me with you.' The Chief returned his gaze to the man. 'All I wanted was to bring back the old ways, to truly be Mandalorian again. When it was between Satine and Vizsla the choice was easy. Now, with Hood in charge, it isn't. I stayed out of loyalty, but now I understand what it truly means to be a part of Death Watch. I didn't join up to kill Mandalorians and destroy Mandalore. I joined up to save them. Please, take me with you to Mandalore. Let me regain my honour, and the right to once again call myself Mandalorian.'

The Master Chief stood up, towering over all of us. We were once more forced to look up to him, but now, many of the gazes aimed at him had turned from scorn to hope, a hope for redemption. He turned to address his prisoners.

'I have already given you my word, now that I have what I want you are free. Any who wish to go to Mandalore and stop Vizsla is welcome to join me. Those who don't…

'Run. Run as far as you can. Scrap and hide in the underbelly of this galaxy. Mandalore has no place for you.' With that the clones cut us loose. I rushed after the Chief.

The 501st had finished scrounging the base for any useful supplies, ammo, medicine, food and the like, and were loading it onto transportation platforms that were hooked up to the back of sabre tanks. They also seemed to be herding what was left of the Onderons Beasts in the same direction. Just then, two Acclamator assault ships broke through the clouds and settled in the snow drifts, not too far away.

I rushed forward. 'Chief.' He stopped and turned to me.

'What?'

I threw off my helmet and gave him a salute. 'Commander Tano, reporting for duty, sir.'

He returned the salute. 'It's good to see you again commander. The 501st is glad you could join us again.' I thanked him and took up his left-hand side, casting a brief glace and smile to Rex, who had taken up his right. I was final home.


	50. Chapter 50

Halsey POV

Serin was a fantastic aid. As one of the few Spartans with a mind for ONI work, I enjoyed working with her. She was one of the lucky few to have no repercussions from her failed augmentations. I had worked closely with her for some time but had kept her separate from her fellows. I didn't need her to form close bonds with the other Spartans, I need her to function as if she was above them. She would soon become their commanding officer.

Cortana was many things, skilled at many things, but she wasn't ONI material and especially not suitable to become my replacement. Serin was. She excelled in all the areas I need her to, intelligence, resourcefulness, ruthlessness, loyalty, the list went on. Perhaps the most important trait she held was her belief in John.

She too saw what I saw in him, the majesty of his creation, and would become one of his staunchest allies upon his takeover of Mandalore. Good, he would need her soon.

John had finished his little Carlac escapade quickly, barely planetside for three days. He and his fleet were now on their way to Mandalore to deal with Vizsla, with some surprising company. I had never expected John to work with members of Death Watch. As soon as they had arrived on Kamino I had spent a significant amount of time instilling into the children the belief that they were Mandalore's last hope, discrediting everyone else. I paint Satine as weak, the True Mandalorians as ineffective and Death Watch as something to be fully eradicated. To see John working with some of their members, previous members, was actually a pleasant surprise. It showed he was growing as a person, using his experiences to make decisions, not just relying on what I taught him. Granted, he was a bit, how shall we say…, overzealous when trying to get information from them. The anger I had instilled in him spilling through into his actions.

I moved from thoughts of John and his little Death Watch followers to Serin's report. My timetable had to be accelerated slightly. John was closing in on Vizsla and would soon become Mandalore, I was sure of it, and that meant I need to take steps to reduce any backlash while also moving up my plans for Mandalore. While I doubt the Chancellor will be happy with my meddling he will at least be pleased that my, _our_ , plans for the planet will soon begin.

I had expressed doubt on Kamino's viability as the basis for clone production on numerous occasions. During the lead up to the war a facility, whose sole purpose was dedicated to creating and training the clone army, like Tipoca City made sense. Tipoca had nothing in the way of defensive structures because everything had been used to maximise clone output. During the war, however, this just left us vulnerable. The assault on Kamino was a prime example of this so the Chancellor and I, after numerous complaints on the viability of Tipoca, made plans to move clone production and training off-world to a better, more secure, military site. We chose Mandalore.

When Satine was brought before the Senate to discuss Republic intervention on Mandalore I was almost certain we had the opportunity we were looking for. The Chancellor agreed and had me begin preparations to begin moving the Tipoca operations to Mandalore, except Amidala stepped in. I held nothing against Amidala, she was merely an unplanned variable, but it was annoying to have to undo all of the preparations.

Serin's report was more of a highly detailed list of possible distractions for the Senate. It wouldn't take a genius to see the picture I was making from all of my puzzle pieces. For key Republic military assets to suddenly and swiftly move to a key strategic planet that had routinely opposed Republic intervention and had very recently fallen under the control of a Republic military official made it look like the takeover of Mandalore was a very deliberate move by the Republic, which it was, but we didn't want people thinking about that way. We need people to more readily believe that John had intervened because of Death Watch's actions and that he had open Mandalore's doors to the Republic due to him siding with the Republic as a now independent third party, not because he was ordered too by the Chancellor.

Mandalore aligning itself with the Republic would be a huge benefit for the Senate, they could even stop their debates on how to fill the ranks with John offering them the Mandalorian army. If we don't give them a distraction they will look into the why's of Mandalore's sudden shift in policy. I wanted to distract the Senate with something that would have them scrambling over themselves to fix. After all, why question good fortune when you are plagued by bad luck. Then, they wouldn't question Mandalore's sudden switch but welcome it.

Serin had listed a number of possible options, everything from blowing up key military installations to the assassination of senators, ones who oppose ONI's goals of course. The one that really stood out was Serin's suggestion of assassinating members of our military, specifically members of the Military High Council. It would, one, give me a chance to instil some trusted members onto the Council, Serin and Jerome would be good choices that I couldn't see the Chancellor rejecting. Two, it would mean the Senate would be scrambling to figure out how such high ranking members of the military, and powerful Jedi, were assassinated. And three, it would only make the final execution of Order 66 that much easier.

While I didn't want to be a pawn to some Sith Lord I did see the benefits in ridding the galaxy of the Jedi. They had become an old and antiquated Order that no longer served a purpose in this galaxy, nor in the one I would help John create. The fact that Mandalorians and Jedi have been enemies for millennia was just the icing on the cake. What better way to prove Mandalorian superiority than to be rid one of only two cultures that have ever survived Mandalorian conquest, the Jedi and the Sith.

The only question now was which Jedi to kill. I had thought quite a bit on the subject, having already decided on this course of action long before Serin delivered her report. The report was merely a test to see to what extremes Serin would go to, to further our people and to protect the Chief.

Clone Captain Bacara of the Galactic Marine attachment of the 516th had been chosen to deliver the first blow to the Jedi. He had a loyalty to the Republic that few others possessed. If anyone betrayed the Republic then he saw it as his sworn duty to eliminate them. He, and his Galactic Marines, had been some of the best at hunting down deserters in the entire GAR. He would even kill a Jedi if he had to, which was precisely why he had been chosen.

It wasn't hard to convince him of Mundi's _treachery_ , after all, it was ONI's job to know these things and why would we lie about something like that. He had about as much loyalty to Mundi as he did to every other officer in the GAR, which was enough to follow their orders. Bacara was to do this alone, he had Mundi's trust, the element of surprise and we wanted to limit the spread of the knowledge that Order 66 had been activated. Even if he failed, an investigation into why a clone would turn on their Jedi General would be launched. An investigation carried out by ONI.

A Captain Neyo had also been selected. As one of the first 100 troopers to graduate from the command school on Kamino I knew him personally. He was a nihilist, someone who saw morality as a meaningless concept that bared no meaning on life. He followed orders, not out of loyalty, but purely because he had a job to do. He also had a sadistic streak that was rarely expressed due to his job as a member of the 91st Mobility Legion. His job consisted of reconnaissance and insurgency suppression and he had no loyalty to anyone, only doing as he was ordered to because he had nothing better to do. His commanding Jedi was Stass Allie, the cousin of Adi Gali and a short runner for a position on the Jedi council now that Shaak Ti was dead.

The final Clone Captain to take part in this clandestine operation was a Captain Fordo. Like Bacara, he prefers a straightforward assault to a complex stratagem. He had gained some renown for his rather bombastic approach to battle and how well it had served him and his men. He served as part of the 467th Attack Legion under Saesee Tiin. While Fordo was a loyal soldier he had taken more convincing than either of the others. I had no doubt he would eliminate his Jedi General without hesitation, though with great regret. I had spun him a tale of his Jedi begin a Separatist sympathiser, not a far-fetched concept with the amount of Jedi falling to Dooku, and that he had other associates that were part of a plot to kill the Chancellor. After assuring him that the other associates were known and being dealt with he accepted his mission and went to work. I made sure to remind him that while he may eliminate the Jedi in any way he chooses he mustn't make it known it was him who killed the Tiin. We wouldn't want the Republic to start doubting the other Generals, would we Captain?

I left Serin in charge of overseeing the Captains' Assassinations and to keep an eye on John. While I held no doubt he could take care of himself, and that he could stop any Death Watch trooper who got a bright idea, I didn't want any to be able to sabotage any ships in his fleet. While none of the Death Watch are allowed on any of his ships, the possibility that they could turn on him was there. While the 2 Venators were both fully equipped with fighters, bombers and gunships none of the 4 Acclamator's were designed with a hangar bay, they were designed to be oversized gunships. This meant the Acclamator's could be easily swarmed by the Death Watch ships if they turned on John. They might only get one before the 501st could mount a defence but one ship was 30,000 ground troops plus the troopers manning the ship, a massive loss no matter how you look at it.

I was glad Death Watch had been keeping a low profile for so long as it meant they hadn't been able to build any capital ships. While they had a large number of fighters, bombers and drop/gunships they didn't have anything the size of an Acclamator, let alone a Venator. It would certainly allow John to quickly establish planetary dominance as the Mandalorians were in the same boat as Death Watch, only the reason they lacked capital ships was due to not having enough time to make any.

While Serin attended to her matters I moved onto something that needed my personal touch. Captain Shonn Volta had been very cooperative, to an extent, with me and my questioning. Her surrender had intrigued me, very few Separatists were willing to do so, either out of pride or stubbornness. She had been forthcoming with her early years and her reasons for joining the Separatists, a failing on the Republic part. I argued that the Republic couldn't save everyone, not out of any real need to convince her but to test her reactions. Her response, 'they should have failed to save someone elses' husband.'

I liked her, very much so. She knew very well that not everyone could be saved and that no one was perfect and yet she still blamed the Republic for failing to save her husband. She also knew that civilians got caught in the crossfire of the fighting between the Republic and the Confederacy all the time, she simply took exception that it had happened to her and her family.

"I have an offer for you." She rolled her eyes. She knew what it was that I wanted, to recruit her. I hadn't exactly made my interest in her unclear. She would never serve the Republic, I knew that, but I didn't want her too. Mandalore was in need of capable captains to captain the capital ships they had under construction and to lead their fleets. Volta presented a unique opportunity to recruit one such captain.

"I will never work for the Republic." I gave her a little grin, brimming with smugness.

"I didn't say you would have to." She knew what I was doing, baiting her, my grin said it all, but she was curious all the same. Her resolve to not ask lasted about a minute.

"What do you want?" So I told her. I told her about John, about how he would soon become Mandalore, and about how he would need capable people helping him. I told her about the fact that, while she wouldn't be fighting for the Republic, she would be fighting the Separatist.

While she hadn't exactly said yes she hadn't said no either. She was sizing me up, looking for any indication as to why I would basically admit to open treason against the Republic, so I told her that too. I told her how my deal with the Republic was merely a means to an end, and that end was the resurrection of Mandalore and her people. I told her how I would do everything I could to ensure, not only that the Mandalore of old lived, but thrived. Even betraying the Republic. It was not them to whom I was loyal.

I could see she needed time to decide, so I gave it to her. I knew I wouldn't be able to convince her with just one try but we all need to start somewhere. I left her to be taken back to her cell by some Commando troopers, they wouldn't let her escape, no matter how good a Force-sensitive assassin she was. I was surprised she hadn't tried to escape yet. I had thought, with her skills, she would be confident she could break out, or even kill me in one of our 1 to 1 sessions, but she hadn't. Perhaps she thought she could hide her Force-sensitivity from me. Too bad for her I ran the single most effective information gathering organisation in the galaxy. Nothing was hidden from me. Not even the Sith.

From my pocket, I pulled out a small jammer I had designed. It only blocked the military frequencies the Republic used and I was the only one who knew how to make it or that it even existed. As ONI was the centre of nearly every operation that the Republic made, despite how much people liked to think that ONI only ran ONI op's, it was imperative to ensure ONI's complete safety. To do that we had to sacrifice privacy. Nothing on Kamino was private. Not bathroom breaks, not secret ONI meetings, not secret non-ONI meetings and not even the troopers _alone time_. If you want ultimate safety than you cannot have any privacy.

Some may believe this would pose a security risk from anyone splicing into the mainframe, and they would be right. I, however, had already accounted for this. The ONI mainframe only included top secret information and could only be accessed from ONI command. All the computers that took in and compiled information from outside of command had access to the holonet but the ONI mainframe did not. Any piece information that was to be input into the mainframe had to be physically removed from the compilation computers and manually installed into the mainframe. The computers that compiled information had hidden pieces of code that deleted any information that was physically removed from it, to ensure nothing was mistakenly not deleted.

Anything that was above top secret was written on paper. I didn't trust that the mainframe couldn't be broken into so everything that could possibly incriminate ONI or the Republic was stored on paper in a secret vault, the location of which was known to only five individuals. All paper-based documents went through one of these five individuals who then filed it within the vault.

My little jammer gave me a small bit of privacy by jamming the cameras and microphones within 15 feet of the jammer's location. I can, and did, reduce the jammers area of influence to the size of the interrogation room. I then reached into my pocket and pulled out a syringe and carefully stuck it into a vein on my left arm and pushed the plunger.

It was a shame it took me telling John I was dying for him to embrace his destiny as the leader of our people. But then, what is more powerful to a devoted son then the dying wish of his beloved mother. My death would only solidify his resolve to become the best Mandalore he could be, all in an attempt to make his fallen mother proud.

After pulling the empty syringe from my arm I placed it back into my pocket. It was the last one I would need. It was a shame John needed me dead to become what he was always meant to be, I would have liked to be by his side to watch him grow. Dr. Catherine Halsey, dying of an incurable disease. Not the death I had hoped for but it is what it is.

Now that the last of the cure was running through my veins I got to work. It was truly a unique experience. After all, who could say they planned their own death and funeral, or that they had survived both?


	51. Chapter 51

Ahsoka POV

'Is the guard really necessary?' Even when surrounded by 4 Clone Commando's and standing before the Master Chief himself, Bo Katan still held herself with pride.

'If you think I would make the mistake of trusting that the second-in-command of Death Watch would so easily turn on Vizsla then you are mistaken.' The Chief was stood looking out into Hyperspace. As soon as the Death Watch remnants, that had sided with the 501st fleet, had gathered the Chief had us begin the journey to Mandalore. Just before the jump, however, he had received a request for the Death Watch officers that had sided with him to be allowed aboard the Xiphos. The fact that Bo Katan was with them had been a surprise to us all.

I was keeping myself off to the side with Rex. It was good to see him again after so long. The Chief ordered me to the command centre as soon as I had set foot on the ship, not even giving me time to say hello to Barriss. I'll just have to go see her later. For now, I had to keep out of Bo Katan's way.

'Why are you here?' The Chief hadn't bothered to turn to address her, an insult to be sure, and Bo Katan didn't look to be willing to answer until he did. To turn your back on someone, in Mandalorian culture, meant you trusted them. To turn your back on an enemy meant you didn't believe they could defeat you, even when you couldn't see them coming. Of course, Bo Katan couldn't hurt the Chief even with his back turned, what with the horde of clones between the two, the Chief's armour and his own skills, but it was still an insult, no matter how true.

'What, not gonna torture me in front of the others, or are you after a more private session?' The clones rippled in displeasure. Many had stopped what they were doing and had their fists clenched at their sides. Their loyalty to their commander was unquestioning. They didn't take too kindly to Bo Katan's insinuation that he would rape her. The Chief didn't react, either not understanding the insult or not caring.

'Answer the question and we can be done sooner.' Bo Katan just snorted.

'I've come here to help you, obviously, but that's not what you're really asking is it? You're asking why I would betray Pre. Well, once I saw something in him, a drive, a desire, that could reignite the flame that once burned brightly within all Mandalorians. I wanted to see the return of the old ways, to reclaim our heritage, and I thought Death Watch was the way to do it.

'After the whole Senate debacle that ousted Satine and brought Hood into power, well, Death Watch wasn't the only option anymore. Mandalore was uniting and returning to the old ways and it was Death Watch that was stuck on the outside. We soon turned from liberators to invaders. Pre refused to back down, no matter who tried to convince him otherwise. With Hood restoring our culture many of the Death Watch clans felt we had achieved our goal. Sure Hood only rearmed to fight us but we got what we wanted, the old ways back. But Pre would never be happy, not until he was Mandalore, and Hood would never have given it to him.

'I signed up to save our people, not conquer them.' The Chief gave a nod and ordered the Commandos to take her back to the others within the holding cells. He was being very cautious around Death Watch despite having invited them to join him.

'Which one were you?' What? The sudden change in topic had also attracted the Chief attention. He finally turned to face her.

'Pardon?'

'Which of the 75 were you?' The only indication of the Chief's surprise was the twitch of a hand, no more than a second, but I doubt Bo Katan missed it, not if that smirk was any indication.

'I don't…' She interrupted.

'You do. Did Halsey really think no one would realise? Granted we only found out due to some lucky coincidences, but we found out all the same.

'See, after remembering something about a brilliant scientist having a massive falling out with their clan I did some digging and found mentions of a Dr Catherine Halsey and her rather radical views on the Mandalorians. I brought her to Pre's attention and he agreed with me, she would make a great addition to Death Watch. So, we looked to recruit her. It took a while but we found her, about 8 years ago now. She rejected our offer readily, with some choice words about Death Watchs inadequacies, and Pre's.

'Originally, upon hearing about her views on Mandalorian development, we thought Halsey was talking about how Mandalorians were forgetting who they were, forgetting the old ways. We thought she had, somehow, predicted Satines and the New Mandalorians rise to power. We were only partly right.

'It was during that meeting, where we tried to recruit her, that we found out that when she meant, she meant as a people. Not just culturally but physically too, in every area, Mandalore was lacking.

'Next, we start hearing rumours about an elite group of Mandalorians calling themselves Spartans. We did our research then as well, found out about the original clan and Malachor V, but nothing about this new group. The only consistent rumour was that you need to make your interest in hiring them known and then they would contact you for information about the job. We made our interest known, but you never came. Then we hear tell of you working for Mother Whisper, Halsey's criminal moniker. That's when we started to dig deeper.

'We knew about Halsey's desire to create the best Mandalorians she could, and now she had a group at her disposal that were leagues ahead of any other Mando in the galaxy. We didn't think it a coincidence. Then we found out about the tests. A government sanctioned health test in the Mandalorian sector that isn't on any official reports. Suspicious. What's even more suspicious is that 75 of the 150 flagged six year olds died. No one else, younger or older, died to this mysterious disease, just 75 six year olds. Considering the supposed age of this new Spartan group and the time passed since those 75 supposed deaths, well, it wasn't hard to put it together.

'So, which one were you?' The Chief said nothing, opting instead to stare down Bo Katan. He then gave the Commando's a quick thrust of his chin, a signal to get moving. They dragged Bo Katan out of Command in silence. I was still reeling from it all. I might have even missed the long glare the Valkyrie leader spared for me if I wasn't looking right at her. I wasn't looking forward to meeting her face to face again.

While people had questioned the origins of the Spartans no one actually knew the truth, except for Halsey and some of the Cuy'val Dar. I doubt even the Chancellor knew the whole truth. Looking around the Command Centre showed not even the clones knew everything and they had grown up with the Spartans, trained with them.

The clones had been raised alongside the Spartans! Making the Chief…

By the Force. He was barely older than me. The Clone Wars had been going on for nearly 2 years now, add on 10 years of training that started at the age of 6 and the Spartans were about 18 years old. They were barely legal adults.

Granted the Republic had a very loose definition of legal adult, what with different systems having different ages limits. Naboo was 16, Duro was 22 and Mandalore was 9, for example. All the same, most Republic planets averaged out at 18. To know that the most feared warrior and commander in the Clone Wars could be ID check and not be allowed to purchase alcohol was fucking mind bending.

'So… You were…' I didn't get any further before the Chief angled his helmet towards me. With a full visor, it was hard to tell where he was looking but you felt his gaze all the same. 'Never mention this again? Got it.' Yeah. I wasn't gonna bring up a subject that could potentially piss of the galaxies only group of super soldiers. I was reckless, not stupid.

'Get back to work.' The calm tones of the Chief's orders were a surprise. No anger or frustration had entered his tone. Still, no one moved. A quick glance from the Spartan was enough to send Rex scrambling to get things back on track. The Chief just resumed staring out of the window.

I decided that now would be a good time to slip out to go see Barriss. Pretending to be a Mandalorian these past 2 months had been very mentally draining and having another Jedi would do wonders to recentre myself. Joint meditation would go a long way to helping me reacclimatise. The chief stopped me just as I was leaving.

'Commander. Be back before we exit hyperspace. You'll be commanding the Death Watch ships while Yularen will take command of my fleet.' I looked back at the Chief but he hadn't moved so I gave a quick yes sir and took off.

Ryloth had been my last big command. Master Obi-Wan had mostly been giving me command of smaller forces on the ground and leaving command of the fleet to Admiral Gentis. He was a good and loyal man who took good care of his men. A bit standoffish and not very approachable due to his air of superiority but that was something you could look passed due to his compassion and skill, and his arrogance wasn't exactly unwarranted.

Shaking off thoughts of my Master and legion, I focused on the task at hand. Tracking down my friend.

* * *

Barriss POV

I had just finished up my rounds in the med bay. Carlac had been the quickest battle I had seen during this war and had few casualties on our side, a few scraps and burns here and there with the occasional dead trooper turning up, but then it was only the first battle in the Mandalorian campaign. Still, every time I saw a trooper in blue and white armour lying on one of the beds all I could think about was the first time I saw an injured member of the 501st. Geonosis.

Nothing had prepared me for what it was actually like. Master Unduli had me read everything we had on the Geonosians before we landed on the planet so I knew some of what was to come, but nothing can prepare you for the real thing. The cries and screams as men were eaten alive, the pain of those affected by the White Phosphorus, the reanimated corpses of dead troopers, I relive it all, every time I close my eyes. It didn't matter if I was asleep or awake, if it was only for a second or for hours at a time. Every time I close my eyes I relive it all.

After I finished my shift I hurried back to my quarters. I dreaded going to my quarters, if I wasn't a Jedi I would even have said I hated it, for one simple reason. It was where I went to cry. As soon as I entered the room and the door shut I did the same thing I always do after finishing up in medical, I crumpled to the floor and cried. I shook and spasmed as control over my body left me, leaving me trapped in my own mind. The horrors I had seen all came at once, piling on, wave after wave.

I knew what this was, I am a trained medic, but I never went to get help for my depression. I deserve to suffer through it. Why? Because I'm a Jedi, and we all deserve to suffer.

I never turned on the lights in my room, the horror in my mind took strength from the darkness and I needed to maximise my suffering. I was even beginning to feel physical pain as my mind now started to torture my body too. I, along with every Jedi above the rank of Padawan, deserved to feel pain.

The Jedi proudly called themselves the Keepers of the Peace and the Protectors of the Innocent. It was the biggest load of Bantha crap in the galaxy. We weren't the Keepers of the Peace, we were the soldiers who brought conflict and war everywhere we went. We didn't Protect the Innocent, if anything we brought war to those who had nothing to do with the Republic or the Separatists. We were hypocrites of the highest order and deserve to suffer for it.

Now, despite how I feel about the Jedi, that we are just feeding the cycle of war, I don't despise soldiers or their generals. In fact, I was on good terms with many of the 501st and the Master Chief himself. He would even sometimes take the time to come and see me and make sure I was okay.

I knew he was ruthless and that he had no problem killing innocent people, but he didn't do so and then have the gall to call himself a 'Protector of the Innocent' afterwards. Not like the Jedi did.

He held no illusions of who and what he was, he embraced it. The Jedi, on the other hand, tried to hide it, bury it under flowery words and misleading actions. Besides, he was ruthless, not because he didn't care about the enemy, but because he cared so much for his men.

His ruthlessness stemmed from compassion, the trait that the Jedi liked to tell everyone they had in abundance. He tried to save as many people as he could but, at the end of the day, he cared more about his brothers then he did anyone else and would sacrifice others over them any day. I really looked up to him.

The Jedi, on the other hand, did things just as bad as, sometimes worse than, the Master Chief even before the Clone Wars began. And then they have the nerve to turn around and say the Master Chief is dangerous and that I need to spy on him for the Council. The Jedi were a blight on the galaxy that had to be removed. One only had to look at Ahsoka to see the Jedi's corruption.

I held nothing against Ahsoka, she was a very dear friend to me, but she exemplified everything wrong with the Jedi, though that was no fault of her own. Ahsoka was a good person and a great warrior, but a poor Jedi. She would have made a better Mandalorian then anything, but the Jedi council lauded her as an example that all Jedi should follow. They threw her onto the battlefield at a young age and taught her how to be a good soldier and wage war, not how to resolve conflict without violence and with words. She was a symptom, the Council were the disease.

If the Jedi truly cared about peace and nonviolent solutions they would have exiled Ahsoka already as she failed to show many of the traits the Council said made a Jedi what they were. Would it have hurt Ahsoka to have been exiled? Yes, but she would find greater happiness elsewhere in the galaxy than with the Jedi.

Skywalker was another one. He shot at his own men and was praised as a hero by the Republic and the Jedi. The worst part, he wasn't alone.

I knew many Jedi who showed no care or compassion for their clone troopers, sometimes even outright hostility. They sent these loyal and blindly obedient men marching to their deaths even when they could have made better strategies that could have saved their lives simply because they don't like the clones. That's why the Jedi deserved to be punished. That's why I willingly, gladly, tortured myself with the horror I've seen. I would go further if I didn't need to be physically fit to do my job, the only chance of redemption I had. But then, a few cuts here and there didn't stop me from doing my job, and who would even notice or care anyway?

The Chief might, he didn't want those he cared about hurting needlessly, but as soon as I explain why I deserve this, deserve all this pain, then he would let me continue, maybe even help me. I felt a shiver of glee run down my spine. The Master Chief helping me atone for my sins as a Jedi would really help. Perhaps he could then help the other atone too.

It was long before I regained control of my body, the depression episode coming to a close. Once I could stand up without falling over I wobbled over to my clothing draws. I fell onto the cabinet, using it to help keep me upright, and rifled through my underwear drawer for my knife.

I had stolen it some months back but never had the courage to use it, not until now. I took the knife and went over to sit on my bunk. Holding the blade was actually making me nervous, making me hesitate. No. No, I had to do, I couldn't stop now. I deserved this.

I rolled up my sleeve and put the knife to my wrist. I knew that the best way to kill myself would be to cut lengthways down my arm, but I wasn't trying to kill myself. No, I didn't deserve the escape that death would give me, so I cut across my arm, starting at the wrist. It hurt, just like I needed it to. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. I was halfway through number 6 when my door chimed.

I jumped in fright. Looking at the knife in my hand and my bleeding arm I started to panic. 'Gi-give me a minute.' I was starting to hyperventilate when autopilot took over. I rushed into the fresher and set it to sonic. After whacking it on full and sticking my arm and the knife under it for a bit I rushed back into my room. I pulled out the drawer and threw the knife in, not even taking care to hide it under anything. I then pulled out one of my older shirts and ripped off a sleeve, which I then used to hastily wrap around my wrist. I pulled down my sleeve and then rushed to the door, where I took a second to pat down any wrinkles.

'A-Ahsoka?' What was she doing here? The last I heard was she was having some private study at the Jedi temple, at least that's what Master Kenobi told me after calling him when Ahsoka wouldn't answer her comm.

I barely had time to take in the fact that Ahsoka's new Mandalorian armour was very flattering to her figure before she crushed me in a hug.

'I've missed you.' When she let up I was able to hug Ahsoka back. It was good to see her again after so long. I invited her in and her first move was to turn on the light. That really unsettled me. It almost felt like the light would reveal all the dark and terrible things that had stained this room. It had really set me on edge, not that I could let that show with Ahsoka here.

I was sure I came off as a little distant when we were catching up but my mind was constantly being drawn to the creeping shadows. I don't know how Ahsoka couldn't see them, they were bleeding in through the carpet. I was using all the concentration I had to not react and wasn't paying any mind to Ahsoka or what she was saying.

'Are you okay?' I jolted.

'P-pardon?' Ahsoka was looking very concerned. Seeing her in Mandalorian armour, without her lightsabers, looking so concerned was making me very self conscious. It reminded me a lot of the Master Chief's concern in how genuine it was. It would be a lot easier to tell if she was faking it like the Jedi taught her too or if she was truly asking if I was okay if she didn't remind me so much of the Chief.

'You don't look so good. You're a bit pale and I don't think you've been listening at all today.'

'S-s-sorry. I just got off my shift at the med bay and I'm feeling tired is all.' I couldn't tell her the truth. I didn't know yet, was she more Jedi or more Mandalorian? I would have to keep an eye on her, found out for myself.

Ahsoka brushed off my excuse, understanding how hard the military life can be. Instead, she turned to the second reason she came to find, other than to catch up, meditation. That could work.

I settled myself in a meditation stance on the floor and Ahsoka moved across from me. I first started reaching out to Ahsoka, helping to get her to recentre herself quicker, before gently pulling away. As I pulled away I began to observe her. Jedi all have a certain feel about them, a general feeling unique to each person that can be used to identify affinities, if one was skilled enough at sensing Auras.

It was hard to describe what feeling a Force Aura felt like. The best way to put it would be feeling a colour. Most Jedi felt either blue or green. The reasoning was that the Force aligns itself differently inside of each person. A light side Force user and a dark side Force user may have the same coloured feel to them but one would be a lighter shade and the other a darker shade, two guesses for which shade matches which alignment and the first guess doesn't count.

Still, it wasn't a flawless system as sometimes a person can feel dark and sometimes they can feel light, it depends on their emotional state at the time. The only consistent thing was the colour of a person's Aura. Ahsoka, for example, should, no matter how deeply she delves into the dark side of the Force, always feel green. She didn't.

Ahsoka didn't feel green, she felt… I don't know. The best description would be an absence of colour, like there had been one there but it had been washed away. No. More like it had been coloured over so many times, in so many different colours, that it wasn't a colour anymore. It felt like a shadow.

I stopped my meditation.

'Ahsoka, do you have your lightsabers?' I had startled the girl out of her meditation but she replied quickly, though was confused why I asked. After asking to see them that confusion only grew. She handed them over and, after a quick few turns of them in my hands, I ignited them. Twin black beams shot from the hilts, a shadowy darkness encased in a field of white.

This confirmed my suspicions, and my hopes. There was only one other black blade in existence, and that blade had belonged to a Mandalorian who had been inducted into the Jedi order. Tarre Vizsla.

To understand why his blade was black one first needed to know about Force Crystals. Force Crystals are actually a Force infused gem, usually Kaiburr or Rubat, that were used by the Jedi order as the heart of their lightsabers. These crystals all started out blue but changed their colour to their wielders alignment, due to the pair spending close proximity to each other. The only exceptions were the blades of the Sith. No one knew how they made their lightsabers red as no had ever had a red alignment, just different levels of darkness. Even less was know about Tarre's black crystal.

Seeing this new colour was all I needed to decide. Ahsoka was a Mandalorian. She had escaped the influence of the Jedi Council. I was relieved. Ahsoka had spent the past 2 months embracing what it meant to be Mandalorian and her Crystal had attuned itself to that. The only question was why it had turned so fast, it normally took anywhere from 6 months to a year, but that could be explained away by the Crystal leeching the Force alignment colour of the Death Watch members Ahsoka had been with. Just because they were weak with the Force didn't mean they weren't a part of it or that they couldn't influence a Crystal's alignment.

I handed back the sabers.

'Barriss… I…' I stopped her.

'I won't tell anyone. I swear. No one can know.' That seemed to help a bit.

'But what about the Council. You could sense it in me, if you can they can and then they will want to see my sabers t..' I cut her off again.

'We'll find a way.'

'But…'

'We'll find a way. They will never know. Not if I can help it. And if they do, I will be with you to the end, whatever that end may be.' Tears began to well in her eyes before she launched herself at me.

'Thank you.' She was well and truly crying now and I was willing to give her all the comfort she needed. I meant what I said, I will be with her to the very end. Even if it meant expulsion from the Order, even if it meant death. I would always pick Ahsoka over the Jedi. She was the only thing in this galaxy that held any meaning to me.

After her tears had dried Ahsoka climbed to her feet and dragged me with her. She was going to head back to her room so I followed her to the door, planning to see her off, but she stopped just before getting there.

Ahsoka spun on her heel, planted a brief and gentle kiss on my check, spun round again, opened the door and was off down the corridor before my mind had even registered that the kiss had even happened in the first place.

I rushed to the door and looked down the corridor, only to see her speeding figure turn the corner at the end.

'Goodbye.' I whispered.

After briefly gliding a few of my fingers over where she had just kissed, I entered my room. I was glad to see Ahsoka again, it brought me a lot of clarity in these dark times. To see my doubts about her wash away was the good news that I had been hoping for. It had also strengthened my resolve.

The Jedi were a blight on the galaxy, they were wrong and they were training the next generation of Jedi to be warriors, not peacekeepers. They all needed to be removed from the galaxy to be safe.

I walked back to the draw, I took back the knife and I began cutting.

* * *

Bo Katan POV

The shove these clones gave caused me to stumble into my cell. They weren't aggressive or abusive but there was a roughness to them. Still, it was nothing I couldn't handle. After all, I doubt Death Watch or any Mandalorian clan would be any different with their prisoners.

'Find out anything?' Vercopaala was a good man, though often too eager to see the good in others. He was steadfast and dedicated to the cause, one of the earliest recruits, but was sometimes too naive.

When Vizsla reformed the Death Watch Vercopaala was one of the first to truly believe in Pre's vision and dedicated himself wholly to the cause. This loyalty saw him soaring through the ranks and gathering together his own loyal followers. When he sided with the Chief he brought over a lot of the men left over from the 501st's attack. When I saw him so easily accept the Chief, to be the first to declare his allegiance to him despite having just seen him brutally execute our men, I knew we had lost.

Carlac held the only Death Watch troopers not on Concordia. We had been on our way back from Onderon when Pre redirected us to Carlac, having found out that our mole was relaying information only known by those who had been on Onderon. We knew the spy was in our midsts and feed the men false information to have it filter back to Hood do Pre could make a successful assault on Mandalore, but we were still needed.

With the Onderon Beast Riders, their beasts, a Death Watch legion and a division of Valkyries we were a large force. Without us, Death Watch barely had enough men to take Mandalore, and that's including the Separatist droids, but we would never be able to hold the planet. The Reclaimers would round up the remains of Hoods army and lead their own assault and instil their own choice of Mandalore. Without us, Death Watch had already lost, Vizsla just didn't know it yet. It wouldn't matter if he killed Hood, it wouldn't even matter if he managed to enter the Sundari Palace and sit on the Throne of the Mandalore. He didn't have the manpower, not with the people still against him, not while there was a chance he could lose.

Vercopaala took a lot of men with him when he switched sides, men Death Watch desperately needed.

'Nothing we didn't already know. All he wanted to know was why I joined his side instead of heading back to Pre. He refused to say anything about a plan of attack.' No doubt Vercopaala was annoyed that he didn't know what was going on but, as I said, he was the trusting sort. If the Chief wouldn't tell him the plan he would trust that the man had a reason for doing so.

That put him at odds with two others in the cell. Dema and A'den were two of Death Watch's biggest supporters. They had been a part of the first iteration under Pre's father Tor and had been very outspoken protesters during Satines rise to power. It had taken a lot to convince them to join up again and Pre had to prove over and over that he was as capable as his father once was. Not that these two had any trouble finding faults. Even after convincing them to join they just picked apart Pre's every action, constantly comparing him to his father. Still, they would never betray Death Watch, for Tor if not Pre. Which is why I knew they were here for only one reason. Sabotage.

'What did you expect? He locked us up as soon as we entered the ship.' Dema gave a short, dismissive huff.

'For good reason.' I gave him a pointed look. I knew what they were here for even if Vercopaala didn't. Again, too trusting. I knew that the only reason most of the rest of the Carlac remnants joined the 501st's assault was because Dema and A'den convinced them to join up so they could attack them from behind. The only ones who didn't join us were those who wanted to live a quiet life, having enough of all this fighting, or those whose honour wouldn't allow them to engage in such deception.

'So… Is he Mandalorian?' I turned to Kandosii'la.

'Yes.' That brought mixed reactions, as was expected. Most of the officers were pleased to hear this, believing it to be confirmation they had chosen the right side, while Dema, A'den and Kandosii'la bristled. They had been hoping that he was just some random kid that had undergone the Spartan Program, or whatever Halsey had named it, but no, he was one of the many Mandalorian children that had been taken.

The trio had been hoping to use the fact that Clan Spartan isn't an officially recognised clan, the fact that the Clan Hardeen aliit hadn't been notified of any adoptions by Halsey and the fact that the Master Chief wasn't Mandalorian born to turn the people against him. To turn all of the negative attention away from Death Watch and onto the Republic. If they could prove that the Chief wasn't an official recognised Mandalorian by anyone but the Chancellor then they might have been able to discredit both and push the Mandalorian people into accepting Pre as the true Mandalore by presenting him as their saviour from the machinations of the Republic.

'He lives up to his name, I'll tell you that.' Confusion spread through the men. I will admit, it took me a while. He really didn't give much away but, in the end, that had been the biggest clue of them all.

Mandalorians were a very practical people, doubly so when naming things. Usually, parents hold off on naming their child before they reached about 4 years of age unless they had a very strong personality trait. It wasn't uncommon to give a child a temporary name, or a name for what you hope they would become. A'den was named because he was aggressive, a'den meaning aggressive, Dema was named after the word Demagolka, meaning monster. Turns out even his parents thought he was a piece of shit. Kandosii'la was named after the word for amazing as it was the closest translation to the meaning of the name Miranda.

'Shev'la Vizsla.' The ripple of confusion turned into… I don't know what, but it set people on edge.

We had been keeping tabs on as much Spartan activity as we could get our hands on over these past several years, looking for any weakness. I had to hand it to her, Halsey sure knew how to make a soldier. They were all brutal and efficient, though some stood above the rest, but away from the fight they all seemed to have their own unique personalities.

The Chief was an imposing figure, that could relate to a number of names on the list, but his most defining characteristic is the fact that he can say so much without having to say a word. Shev'la, meaning silent, was a very fitting name for the man.

The main problem was the fact he was originally of House Vizsla. House Vizsla gave up its seat on the House Council to follow Pre, and a lot of the Clans under House Vizsla's protection came with us when Pre was revealed as the leader of Death Watch. If it came down to a fight between Shev'la and Pre and Shev'la won then he would become the aliit of House Vizsla too. A lot of Clans had stayed loyal to their House. All those here who still clung on to the hope that Death Watch would still survive to fight again even if Pre lost knew that it would become nearly impossible if the Clans swore allegiance to their House's new aliit.

'Don't go spreading that around.' I spun on my heel.

At the entrance to the cell, on the other side of the force field stood a woman with blue hair, blue lips and blue eyes. Cortana Halsey. She typed in the passcode to drop the forcefield and stepped into the cell with us, a Commando trooper taking the spot she just left. I had to admit, at least she had the brass balls to believe that nothing would happen to her.

'Anyway, he prefers John now.' John?

'As in Favoured?! I can see it, he is Halsey and the Chancellor's favourite, though I say Shev'la suites him better.' Cortana gave a snort.

'You're partly right. John actually means Favoured by the Gods. You see, John, and the rest of the Spartans, all believe in the Gods of Old, Kad Ha'rangir, Arasuum and Hod Ha'ran. And, most importantly, the clones believe in them too.'

'And why is it more important that the clones believe in these Gods?' The girl gave a smirk.

' 'cus if they didn't then who would believe that the Spartans are the Children of Kad Ha'rangir and that John is his Chosen?.' She couldn't be serious. The clone army was religious?! And they followed the Spartans because, what, they thought they were in some kind of holy war?!

'There's no such thing as Gods, and any who believe in them are fooling themselves.' A'den seem particularly offended by the notion that people who dared to call themselves Mandalorian would dare to worship a deity, never mind that it was a Mandalorian one.

'Funny. I didn't expect an original member of Death Watch to refute the Gods existence, A'den of Clan Saxon. You were there for Tor Vizsla's speech at the creation of Death Watch, weren't you? You must have read the original Death Watch manifesto. I must be misremembering things because I thought he mentioned Hod Ha'ran in them.' A'den bristled in anger, not taking too kindly to being talked down to by a little girl. Her mocking smirk probably didn't help. 'But, we're getting off topic. I'm here to relay to you your orders for the coming battle.' Cortana kept A'den in her sights but her gaze had hardened to a point.

'No matter your reasons for being here, you have all been given a second chance. I suggest you remember that before you do anything foolish. As I am sure you are aware, Death Watch is finished, it is only a question of when, and that John, the Master Chief, will rise to power as the next Mandalore. Now, that is fact. You don't have to like it, but it is fact. Decide now which side you are on.' A'den and Dema both shifted uncomfortably.

'Tomorrow, the 501st fleet will arrive into the space surrounding the planet of Mandalore and it will destroy any and all Death Watch ships above said planet. The Death Watch forces that have sided with us, that will be henceforth referred to as the Turned, will assist the fleet in mopping up the Death Watch remnants.

'Meanwhile, the Master Chief will be taking the 501st Legion planetside to deal with all of the Death Watch ground forces. The Turned will, once clean up is complete, head down to assist the Chief, once again, in cleaning up all Death Watch remnants.

'Your commanding officer for this mission will be Commander Ahsoka Tano or, as you may know her, Mira Keveer.' Mira!

Mira had been an exceptional student and addition to the Valkyrie forces during her time with us. I had personally invested a lot of time and effort into that girl and, most importantly of all, a lot of trust too. I had entertained the idea that she may have been our mole but it had been a brief, fleeting, thought. To know that she was really a Jetii, our ancient enemy, just made my blood boil. When I saw her standing near to the Master Chief on his bridge it took everything I had to ignore her.

If only Kandosii'la had the same restraint.

'Mira?! Mira was the traitor? That BITCH! When I get my hands on her I will tear her to pieces.' Kandosii'la had taken to the girl far more than I had. Perhaps it was their closeness in age or something else entirely, the fact of the matter was she had invested much into her. To have all of that taken and thrown back in her face, let's just say that it wasn't the nicest feeling in the galaxy. The fact Cortana gave her a dismissive snort didn't help matters.

Kandosii'la rounded on the girl in an instant. 'Got something to say?!' Cortana didn't even flinch, though I suspect it was less to do with her bravery and more that she's was used to seeing far more fearsome sites whenever a Spartan got mad.

'I'm curious, how can someone be a traitor when they don't betray the side to which they are loyal?

'Besides, I don't think its the fact that Commander Tano is a traitor that's got you so angry, is it Miranda?.' Kandosii'la ripped off her helmet and the sisters were finally face to face once again, after so many years.

'So you knew.'

'Mum's been keeping tabs on you, covering for you. She only told me a few minutes before I came down here. I can't believe you would betray dad like this.' Ouch. For as loyal as Kandosii'la was to Death Watch she loved her father. It seems both sisters had an axe to grind.

'That's rich coming from you.'

'I chose to live with our mother. That's not a betrayal, not like siding with dads enemy is.'

'She is not my mother.' Cortana's lip curled in disgust.

'So you won't even try to deny that you betrayed dad? We're done here.' Cortana turned to walk out of the cell. Kandosii'la wasn't done yet. She rushed after her sister.

'Wait…' The Commando that had shut off the forcefield for Cortana grabbed Kandosii'la before she could leave and threw her back into the cell. I barely had time to catch her. She gathered herself quickly and rushed back up to start pounding on the forcefield. 'So you're just gonna walk away again.'

Cortana stopped in her tracks. 'I went to live with mother, it was you who decided I had walked away and abandoned you. Just like it was you who decided to walk away and abandon dad. You've got one chance to make it right. Take it.' And that was that. No matter how hard Kandosii'la pounded or screamed her sister never came back to talk to her.

A few hours later Commander Tano came to the cell door. She took a moment to look at us all before punching in the code to drop the field. 'It's time. I hope you've made your choice and I hope it's the right one.' With that, she turned and walked away.

I turned to look at the faces behind me. Yeah, we'd all made our choice. It was unanimous. Sorry Pre, I promise I'll make it quick.


	52. Chapter 52

Fordo POV

Jabiim was a shit hole. No amount of arguing from the natives was going to convince me otherwise. They kept going on about how the rain made you appreciate the days of light in their fullest. Call me greedy but I prefer more than 5 sunny days in my galactic year. Kamino had enough downpours for a lifetime. At least Kamino didn't have this gods-forsaken mud.

General Tiin was busy talking to the Loyalist rebel leader, Orlis Gillmunn. After a coup from the Nationalist leader Jabiims officially elected government went into hiding, never giving up hope of Republic assistance. To be fair to the Nationalists, they weren't exactly wrong when they said the Republic hadn't cared about them until we found their planet core was rich in a very rare ore. That and a very rare gem called stygium, or something.

Yesterday I had received my orders from ONI, execute Order 66. Gods above I hated that number, 66. I reckon I might just hate it more than droids.

I had no problem following the order, hell it was tame compared to others I've received in the past. No, my problem was with what those orders meant. Betrayal. And by my commanding officer at that. There was no greater betrayal than that.

To have a Jedi betray the Republic was no new thing, nor was killing one. Captain Rex of the 501st Legion, for example, had been elevated into a living hero for his actions on Saleucami. At least to the Republic. Mandalorians had no word for hero, we didn't need one. Everything a hero was supposed to be was everything that a Mandalorian was supposed to do anyway, the only difference between a hero and a regular Mando'a was luck, one was lucky enough for their deeds to become known and the other didn't. All the same, that didn't change the fact some Mando's are better than others, and that fact was recognised. We just didn't call them heroes.

I digress, Rex showed the galaxy why Mandalorians were to be feared. Even the best of the Jedi could fall to us.

I wasn't afraid of taking on a Jedi, if Rex could I could, we are the same blood after all. My real hatred for the number 66 was its implication. If Saesee Tiin truly was a traitor that made my battalion 66ers. 66er's was a badge of shame given to any legion whose Jedi betrayed the Republic. It showed a dereliction of duty that could not be tolerated. Any betrayal was to be punished in the same way, death. To let a Jedi escape to the Separatists showed everyone that an entire Legion couldn't do one job without screwing it up. 66er's were failures. We didn't have the excuse of Jedi being too good to be defeated, not when others can kill them. Our people, the Mandalorians, our sire, Jango Fett, and our own brothers, like Rex, had all killed Jedi before. 66er's had no excuse. Jedi could be killed and a Mando could kill a Jedi. Therefore a Mando who couldn't kill a Jedi was simple no Mando at all.

I refused to let my brothers be tarnished with the title of 66.

'Fordo?' I was jerked out of my musings by General Tiin. No, he was no General. He was traitorous scum. 'Are you okay?'

I snapped to attention. 'Always sir.'

'Good. We have our next mission and I want you with me on this one.' Finally, a chance. I tightened my grip on my rifle. If Tiin noticed anything he didn't say anything. 'You, I and a small contingent of clone troopers are going on a scouting mission to try and get a handle on our enemies numbers.' I gave a saluted and set about collecting together some of the men.

* * *

Baccara POV

I felt nothing over my orders. What was a Jedi other than another target to kill? Nothing. So he had some fancy tricks, well I had some of my own. Mundi and I had been sent to reinforce the men of Mygeeto. The Chancellor wanted to test to see how just how effective his Galactic Marines really were. Well, he couldn't have picked a harder crucible than Mygeeto could he.

Republic forces had been fighting for control of the planet since the Clone Wars began.

During the Chancellors opening address to the Republic at the start of the war he had made special mention to three planets in particular, the Triad of Evil. It wasn't the fanciest of names but it got the job done. Saleucami, Felucia and Mygeeto were the three so named planets.

Felucia housed the headquarters of the Commerce Guild, Mygeeto possessed important crystal mines and vaults managed by the InterGalactic Banking Clan, and Saleucami was home to the Confederacy council after the fall of Geonosis. Now Saleucami was ours, though the council had escaped before we even arrived in the system, Felucia was space dust due to a collapsing star, leaving only Mygeeto.

I had received my orders only moments ago and, while I didn't agree with the part of not telling my men about Mundi's betrayal, I complied. I knew that every man in the Legion would do what was necessary. They were loyal to the Republic, not the Jedi.

I approached Mundi.

'Sir, can I see you in private for a moment.' The Jedi turned from the holotable were he was planning his next assault.

'What is it, Commander?' Nothing. His face showed no hint of what was to come. Either that meant he already knew what was coming and the Jedi already knew he had won or the stories about the Jedi's Foresight were exaggerated. Didn't really matter either way to be honest, either way this whole thing would be over soon.

'I've found something you need to see to personally.' He followed without question.

Mygeeto was a frigid ice planet with towering pillars of spiky crystals. The Lurmens, the natives of the world, used these impressive formations to build their cities on, using sky walkways as go-betweens for the various cities. The droids had met us on one such walkway to impede our advance onto the next city. Considering we couldn't flank the droids without taking out their AA guns, or suddenly gaining the ability to fly, the only avenue of attack left was to charge head on. Was it any wonder Mygeeto had been the longest battle of the Clone Wars, and the costliest?

I took the Jedi to the back of our encampment. I knelt down on the ground, close to one of the walkway edges, and pulled my standard issue Vibro knife from my boot. I whirled round on the Jedi in an instant, he didn't even react. Within a flash, my knife was buried in his lung. I ripped the blade out to the side and stabbed him again, this time taking more care to aim for the heart.

The Jedi put up a weak defence but I managed to push through it. I stabbed his heart and withdrew my blade. I stabbed him again and again and again, until the body had stopped spasming. Once I was done I took the saber hanging from the Jedi's belt, it was a tradition for a Mandalorian to take a fallen Jedi's blade wasn't it, so long as it was your kill. Next, I took the Jedi's body and dumped it over the side.

I walked back into the camp, not caring for the blood on my armour. No one questioned it. As it should be. I stopped one of the troopers to spread the word, a Separatist assassin had killed the General. I killed the assassin and both the assassins and the Jedis bodies had fallen over the side of the walkway.

I strode the rest of the way to the holotable I had taken Mundi away from. I had a planet to capture.

* * *

Fordo POV

Calling this a mission was a stretch at best. Tiin had another one of his Jedi feelings that had warned us about an attack many times during the war. I had once been very grateful for the Jedi's abilities, now it just made it harder to kill him.

Tiin had split everyone up into pairs. The Jedi seemed to be keeping his distance from me, having sent me off with one of the Shiny Scout troopers. Due to the level of casualties on Jabiim and its importance, the legion had a constant stream of new troops. When Tiin had me gather up 40 men to help on this scouting mission I had chosen them all from the newest batch, the shiniest of Shinies.

Tiin had chosen to scout out with one of these new men and had saddled me with one too. He knew something was up and was trying to put as much distance between us as possible. Fine with me, the distance would only make it easier to complete my mission.

The Shiny I had been saddled with was perhaps the most hapless clone I have ever seen. His first training team had all graduate without him due to him suffering a minor head injury during his final exam. Due to the Republics need for new troops they had been shipped out while he had been stuck in medical for observation. Then, eventually, he gets shipped out to Jabiim where he contracts several of the local diseases that put him out for 3 weeks. And now, he was standing in the way of me and my mission.

We called him Sick, for obvious reasons, and I genuinely liked the poor kid. He had a good and open heart. There was a type of naivety and innocence to him not seen in other clones. I really didn't want to kill the kid, but I would if he got in the way. Killing one innocent to serve a greater good was something I would do, no matter how distasteful I found it.

'So, where are we going sir?' He had the same briefing I did and knew which area we had been given to scout as well as I did but he still turned to me for instructions. The boy was a follower through and through, combined with his naivety, and he didn't even question why I was taking us out of our search area and towards Tiin's.

As a Capt, in my standard loadout was a simple pistol, sometimes two, and a rifle. Sick, as a Scout trooper, had a sniper rifle, and I needed his rifle. I had brought us as close to the general's location as I dared and asked Sick to hand over his rifle. No questions were asked, he didn't even give me an odd look. No, he just stared at me with utmost trust. I turned away from him quickly.

I gave him a quick order to stay where he was before I moved off towards where I remember a cliff on the Jedi's topographical map. I quickly moved into position and waited.

I knew Tiin wouldn't have made it past my position yet so I would just have to wait for him. It wasn't a fun wait, or a short one. The weather on Jabiim was still its usual temperate, wet, muddy self that made it uncomfortable to be lying in. Still, waiting in all of this was a small price for Tiin's death.

I was nearly thinking he wouldn't show, that I had missed my chance to stop him and that the Jedi had already defected, when I saw him moving into view. The Shiny was laying over his shoulder, a plasma wound on his leg. The Jedi didn't look any worse for wear but was using the Force to move at such incredible speed. It would be a tricky shot but I could make it.

I calmed my heart to slow as much as I could, I took the biggest breath I could, I very, very carefully aimed. I hit.

Tiin went tumbling down as simple as that. It was all a matter of patience. The trooper on his shoulder had an unfortunate tumble but didn't seem to notice the pain. He was probably being flooded with adrenaline, fearing that he was the next target of the sniper that just killed his Jedi General. I quickly climbed to my feet and headed back to Sick.

The poor guy was dripping wet from head to toe. He hadn't even moved an inch. I quickly switched back our rifles and then lead him further along our path. I had been expecting him to question what I had been doing, and why, but Sick never said a word. I was actually becoming nervous because of it. I was so sure he would question me that it was weird when he didn't. Not that I had come up with a believable excuse yet. If it came down to it I would kill the kid. Thankfully for him, he didn't bring it up.

After taking a moment to listen to the panicked ramblings of the trooper Tiin had been carrying over the radio, I responded back. It was half nonsense but the trooper had managed to eek out the fact that the general had been shot in the head. I immediately jumped onto the channel and ordered the rest of the men to meet up at the rendezvous point while Sick and I would go pick up the wounded trooper and the general's body.

When we got the trooper I had Sick carry him back while I took the generals lightsaber. Sick gave me a questioning luck but didn't say anything. The wounded trooper did.

'Sir, what about the general?'

'If I take him back we won't have anyone to protect us from whoever shot the general.' He then asked what would be done with the general's body and I told him we would be leaving it. Jabiim didn't exactly have the weather available to burn it and we didn't have the time to bury him. In truth, burying his body was an honour the traitor didn't deserve.

When we arrived back at the rendezvous I immediately had one of the troopers bandage up our wounded man's leg. It would be little more than a patch job but it would be better than nothing. I took a quick headcount. 38.

'Who are we missing?' One of the troopers piped up.

'Sixer and Twix. We've tried getting them on comms but they aren't saying anything.' That was worrying. I thought back to the reason Tiin had mobilised the group, his Jedi intuition. It had helped to prevent surprise attacks before but I thought he might have been feeling me and my intent to kill him, perhaps not. Then again, an enemy attack would explain the wound on our troopers leg. I hadn't had a chance to ask him yet.

'Trooper! What happened to your leg?' The poor guy was still a little rattled but I didn't have time to wait. I took a knee next to him and gave him a light shake of the shoulders. 'Now, trooper.'

'Nationalists. Th-they attacked us from out of nowhere.'

I turned to the trooper who told me the names of our missing men. 'Try again. See if you can get the two on the comms.'

'No need.' I turned to a small embankment on my left to see two scout troopers sliding down into view. 'Sixer and Twix reporting in sir.'

'Why weren't you answering your comms?' The two were quick to explain.

'We encountered the enemy sir. We turned them off because we were too close to them and didn't want to alert them to our position.' I gave a brief nod.

'How many?' The two shared a look with each other before one of them shakily spoke up.

'An entire army sir, near two legions worth of men.' Kriffing hell. Jabiim had been bleeding the Republic dry. Even with all the new troops, we weren't at full strength. And even if we were, we still wouldn't have the numbers to fend off a force of that size. I took a quick look at the other around me and saw they had come to the same conclusion. Jabiim was lost.

'We need to hold them off.' I turned to Sick. He repeated, 'we need to hold them off. Even if the base begins evacuation procedures now they won't be able to retreat before they're overrun. If they try and hold out they'll just die. We need to hold them off.'

Resolve. If I had to pick a single word to describe these men it would be resolved. They were filled with it. They knew what it meant to go against such a large force. They knew they would die. But they were prepared to do what was needed all in an attempt to buy their brothers as much time as they could.

'I misjudged you.' They all turned to me. I rose to my feet and took off my helmet, to show them how much these brave men had humbled me. 'I misjudged you all and you deserve to know the truth. A yesterday I was contacted by ONI with new orders. I was to execute Order 66.' It was like someone had shoved a metal rod down their spines. 66er's, even Shinies knew what that meant.

'I chose you all to accompany the Jedi and I because I thought that I would have the easiest time killing the Jedi with you lot rather than the more experienced men of the legion. I…' I paused. 'I chose you all because I felt I would have an easier time killing 40 Shinies than 40 experienced men. I treated you like enemies, like dar'manda. I apologise.

'I know that after what I did, of how lowly I thought of you all, that I have no right to ask this, but, will you stand with me? If not for me then for the rest of your brothers on this Gods forsaken planet. Will you give your lives with me so our brothers can live to fight another day?' I was speaking to all of them but my eyes never left Sick, he was the person I had to apologise to the most. Sick shook his head.

'No, we won't fight beside you, and you have nothing to apologise for. In your place, I know that all of us would have done the same. We'll stay and fight, you go back to the men and organise the retreat. They've already lost a General, they will need someone to lead them in his stead.' The others were quick to agree. I couldn't have been more proud or heartbroken if I had tried.

I said my goodbyes, taking care to remember each of their names, and left them with some parting words.

'One of the loyalist commanders told me about a creature that used to live on the planet called a Boar. He said that it was a relatively small creature that routinely took on larger animals and survived despite not having much in the way of offensive features. What it did have was a tough hide, a set of tusks and a set of razor sharp teeth. It was once the symbol for Jabiim's military, who used the motto Resist and Bite, in honor of the Jabiim Boar.

'You men are now Boar Company of the 467th legion. Good luck. Aranar bal Edeemir, Resist and Bite.'

They raised their rifles to the sky. 'Aranar bal Edeemir!' Still, despite their resolve, I didn't believe they would hold out long, there was only so much 40 men, even Mandalorians, could do against an army. More fool me for forgetting the oldest rule in the book: Never underestimate a Mandalorian.

* * *

Neyo POV

Sometimes I enjoyed my job. Like, really enjoyed it. This was one of those times.

As a member of the Reconnaissance corps, I rarely had a chance to indulge myself in violence, in the faces of living beings steeped in fear. There truly was nothing like it. I could only imagine how go it would feel to see that look from a high and mighty Jedi, how good it would feel to see them brought so low. To see such an expression is simply the greatest form of art.

I had been given my orders over a week ago but what was the rush, I wasn't given a time limit on my mission. I wanted to savour this moment to its fullest so I was planning it in meticulous detail. I could easily have taken her out on patrol, we often weren't accompanied by many troops and what was a few dead troopers when compared to the safety of the Republic. Nothing, that's what? At least not to ONI or high command.

The next option was to drag her to an isolated area and kill her but that would lead to questions. I did not want questions. While my personal preference would be to announce my work to the galaxy, I had a feeling this would be my greatest work yet, I didn't exactly want to be brought up for court martial. ONI, no doubt, would disavow anything that would implicate them and leave me high and dry during the trial. I would summarily be found guilty and killed, and you can't make art if you're dead.

My current plan was to try out a little something I had been saving. I had my reservations about being a Mandalorian, I didn't care what I was one way or the other, clone or Mandalorian, but I didn't like the whole unity deal. Being forced to help out your brothers wasn't an idea I found fun. Bacara is the only brother I need. Still, if they had toys like this I can't say I would mind joining them too much.

I pulled out my Mandalorian gauntlet. It had been an incredibly lucky find. It had a whipcord and a wrist mounted flamethrower, perfect Jedi killing tools. I just kept on imagining the Jedi's screams as I set her ablaze.

I unzipped my trousers and took my hardened length in hand. Just imagining those beautiful screams, I couldn't take it anymore. By the time I was finished with myself I had made my decision. If just thinking about it could feel this good then I had to experience it first hand. Plus, it made for an easy cover story.

I tidied myself up and made my way to the command centre. Allie had set up command in a captured enemy tower block, giving her a high vantage point. I just thought it made a better target. It was coming up to shift change so I quickly made my way to Command and let the boys there go a few minutes early. They were understandably confused, I had never cared to give my men time off in the past. And why should I? It wasn't like any had deserved such special treatment. Unfortunately, such thinking was now working against me. I sorted the problem quickly by telling them it was the General's orders, private orders were coming in. They left without complaint.

Allie liked to arrive a few minutes before the shift changed to greet the men coming in and to present an aura of calm and serenity to reassure those coming in. I didn't get the point. Still, it helped to predict Allies movements.

I had hidden in the darkness near to the door and waited for the Jedi. Allie walked in calmly right on time. After taking a few steps into the room she stopped in surprise, taking in the empty room. She called out to anyone in the room but I didn't answer. My bloodlust must have been leaking off of me 'cus she whipped round to see me slinking towards the door.

'Commander? What's going on?' I didn't answer with words. I just locked the door. 'Commander?'

She saw me raising my left arm, the arm with my Mandalorian wrist gauntlet, and started to use the Force to drag her saber to her. I fired off the whipcord.

It wrapped around her wrist and I used this to drag her to me. Her saber went flying off to the sides while my foot came up in a sidekick, slamming into her stomach and taking her breath. I followed up with a right cross to her check and proceeded to wrap the cord around her neck. I pulled tightly which dragged her tied wrist towards her face. She responded by slamming her free elbow into my stomach and then flipping me over her body onto the floor.

After extracting herself from the whipcord, Allie slammed her foot into my stomach. She then summoned her saber to herself and tried to stab my head with it. I rolled to the side before springing into a forward roll to dodge the follow up. I fired off my whipcord again but she was expecting it this time, cutting it off. I gave a tut of discontent.

I drew my pistol and fired off a few shots but Allie deflected them all so I settled for throwing it at her. I used her dodge as a chance to draw my knife. I knew I wouldn't survive in a melee fight with a Jedi so I took a chance and threw it at her, trusting in her instincts. I was right to.

The reason Jedi didn't use their sabers to block slugs from slug throwers is 'cus they don't stop matter but use the sabers magnetic field to deflect blaster bolts. Solid slugs aren't affected by the magnetic field of a saber and so just become a superheated projectile as it passes through the plasma blade, something that happened here.

Allie's training kicked in and she quickly raised her saber to block the flying blade but all that did was cause her to be splattered by superheated metal. I took advantage of her screaming and drove my fist into her gut before throwing her over the Command Centers holotable. She rolled to her feet but not before I vaulted the table and slammed another fist into her face. The following combo of punches and kicks were all in an effort to drive the Jedi further towards to balcony doors at the end of the room. With a final kick, she broke through the door and was lead up against the balcony.

'Neyo! Please!' Her begging was the sweetest song my ears had ever heard. The desperation in her voice was the purest tune. The Jedi thought themselves so untouchable that they had never feared anything in their lives. While that pissed me off, because it was the basis for their haughtiness, it did do one useful thing. It purified their fear. I've never heard anything as beautiful as listening to someone who once thought themselves invincible finally realising their mortality. I nearly came then and there but managed to stop myself. Afterall, we weren't finished yet.

I didn't reply with anything other than a wicked grin which just heightened her despair. I levelled my wrist at her and set her aflame. I left her screaming for about a minute, enough time to savour it but not enough time for anyone to interrupt, before giving the Jedi one final kick.

The railing snapped behind the Jedi and she went tumbling with it. I rushed to watch, gripping the two places where the railing snapped to allow me to lean over and watch. I listened to her screams as she fell but it was the splat at the end that was the most satisfying. The blood splattered outwards in a vague petal-like shape, her flaming corpse being the flower's core. I was glad I was holding onto the railing otherwise the knee weakening orgasm I had at the sight of such a masterpiece would have sent me tumbling after her. Though, what a way to go.

I turned back into the Command Centre and blasted the security feed to pieces. I stopped to pick up the Jedi's lightsaber and held it to my nose. I took a whiff and shuddered. My God, just a whiff and everything that had happened came rushing back. I quickly stowed my blade in my armour and rushed to my quarters.

I had to hurry, not because I was worried about getting caught, but because I didn't want to wash away the Jedi's scent. Once in my room I rushed to find a container to trap her scent in, the scent of my greatest work. I would worry about coming up with a cover story and with taking charge of the Jedi's duties later. Right now, I had a more pressing concern. The changing of my trousers.

* * *

Sick POV

Aranar bal Edeemir! We tried our best to live up to those words.

No one had much hope that we would do anything more than give the Captain a few hours but we had been hoping it would be more than enough time to get as many of our brothers off the planet as he could. In the end, we held out for 3 days.

40 men against an army of thousands, it was the stuff you heard in stories; but we did it. Oh boy, did we do it. We originally planned to just ambush one of the more vulnerable columns of Nationalists at the back of their force but instead decided to head them off once we noticed they were heading for the Trupimmi Pass.

The Pass was the fastest route between the Nationalists and the Republic outpost but it was narrow, too narrow to feasible take an entire army through. It seems the Nationalists were very eager to be rid of the Republic. The only other route that would have taken the Nationalists to our outpost was to skirt around the mountains that the Pass cuts through. It would have taken them several hours but they would definitely have caught our troops if we couldn't at least slow them down. But no, they took the Pass. It was a mistake. Shaving off maybe an hour or two in exchange for leaving your men trapped in a bottleneck was always a mistake. And we made them pay for it.

We arrived at the Pass well before the Nationalists which gave us time to set up some defences. The first thing to do was to move some rocks into place, making a low wall for us to crouch behind at the mouth of the Pass and setting up six more down the length of it. Next, we pooled all of our Tibanna canisters and our power packs and stashed them behind each of the seven walls. Even if we lost a wall and couldn't gather together the ammunition we wouldn't be out for good. All detonators were kept at Wall Three and beyond, we wanted to save them to see if we could block up the Pass with vehicles. We finished well before the Nationalist arrived, leaving us no choice but to wait.

It was agreed that Heads, our best marksmen, would take the first shot, and what a shot it was. They mustn't have thought much of us clones because they were just letting their officers coast along on speeder bikes at the head of their infantry columns. They weren't even moving faster than their troops. I can see why they would want to keep everyone together, but come on. The officers weren't even wearing armour, just their dress uniforms. Heads took 4 out before the Nationalists even knew we were there.

The next few hours was spent picking off the scared soldiers that were running for any cover they could find, refusing all orders given to advance. We only fell back to Wall Two because we ran out of ammunition. Once they had realised the barrage of plasma had stopped, the enemy started their advance. All we had to do was rinse and repeat. They mustn't have thought we would stick around, or that we had run out of ammo completely, because, low and behold, there they were, the officers, riding at the front once again.

Night fell before we exhausted our second round of munitions so the enemy fell back and set up camp. We organised a small group of about four men to conduct a midnight raid on the enemy camp. They were sent off with little more than Magnums and some Thermals we dug up from Wall Three before we sent them on their way. They came back loaded up on as much ammunition as they could carry and some food for us to eat. The group was already on the way back before the timer on the detonators went off and destroyed the supply store they had pilfered from. But that would be the beginning of the end for us.

By Day 2 they had seemed to realise that we were serious and that we weren't going anywhere. This time they kept their officers at the back, no longer concerned with pompous shows of force but with actual strategy. We had reset at Wall One but had been pushed back to Wall Three in a matter of hours, and this time it wasn't due to a lack of ammo.

Before Captain Fordo had headed back to base we had all shared names or, if you didn't have one, were given one. A prime example of the latter was Hopps. Hopps was the trooper that had been shot in the leg and was carried by the Jedi. Two guesses on how he got his name. Still, you would think that he, more than anyone, would have been the liability. Well then, you've clearly never seen the guy hop.

We lost 2 men at Wall One and a further 7 at Wall Two, none of them were Hopps. He was one of the last ones leaving the Wall but it wasn't because he couldn't get to his foot, feet, whatever. Hopps liked to empty his clip after we started falling back before reloading and coming with us. Then he was off. He might have been one of the last to move but he was usually one of the first at the next Wall setting up. It was a shame he died the way he did.

After setting up at Wall Three he was taken out by a stray shot. Puff, just like that. Gone. Most of the men we lost were killed because they had been shot in the back while retreating. Hopps wasn't even given that small mercy. I've had my share of bad luck but I reckon he got it worse. In his first ever mission he had been shot in the leg, rescued by a Jedi that turned out to be a traitor, got roped into a suicide mission and was then shot in the head. He didn't even get a Mandalorian funeral because we lost Wall Three shortly thereafter. We would be pushed back to Wall Five before night fell again, and a total of 16 men would have been lost. We attempted to scrounge together some semblance of victory by organising another raid. The 4 sent never returned.

Day 3 was just a shit show all around. The Nationalists decided to start off earlier than they did on day 2 and tried to kick things off with a bang. An explosion killed 2 more troopers and left the rest of us scrambling to our feet. I'd give the bastards this, they were learning. Instead of the bumrush of guys they sent at us the day before, they sent out small squads to rush our position. Obviously, they wouldn't reach us but the small amount of men meant they could dodge easier and that any stray shots wouldn't end up hitting someone else like it did when they came en masse. They bled us dry of munitions and rushed us when we retreated back to further walls. I don't remember how many of us were left by wall 7 but it was definitely less than a quarter.

It wasn't going to work any longer, this little shoot and scoot tactic. I called for everyone left to take enough supplies to full load their rifles twice over and to take a detonator each, everything else was left in the pit we stored it all in. Then I called the retreat. We spread to as far as we could from each other, to make it harder for any pursuers. I also volunteered to stay behind and detonate the last of the supplies when the Nationalists got close. It took a few missed shots but I hit them in the end. The trap worked as well as can be expected and caused a minor landslide. It wouldn't stop them for long.

And that's how I ended up here, on my knees before the head Nationalist honcho. They dug themselves out of the pass fairly quickly and chased me down. I put up a bit of a fight but there isn't much a sniper can do against speeder bikes without prior setup.

'You and your men have proven to be quite the nuisance.' I gave a snort.

'A nuisance doesn't take 3 days to be rid of or kill hundreds of men and destroy countless valuable supplies.' It earned me a cross to the check but it just showed my words hit their mark.

'Where is your base?' Another snort.

'You already know where it is.' Another cross. My jaw was beginning to ache.

'Do not think me a fool. Your little ruse of an outpost has been discovered. I will admit it had, for a time, had me fooled. But no more. Where is your base and what were your orders? Why did you attack my men?'

No way. No kriffing way. I couldn't help it. I laughed. This was just too good. 'My orders?! You must really be stupid if you can't tell what my orders were. We were told to hold you off, and that is what we did. The reason the base is empty is because its been evacuated. While you spent 3 days trying to deal with a group of 40 men the rest of the Republic and Loyalist forces were falling back.' I broke out into full belly laughter. We had actually done it. The men and I had surpassed all expectations and actually done it. Not only had the Captain gotten enough time to warn the rest, he'd had enough time to save them. And all at the cost of 40 men.

My laughing just earned me another punch. This time it was a straight jab which broke my nose. I was just too happy to care. 'Lies! All of it, lies.'

'Ah, what's wrong? Are you not getting to wipe out the Republic forces like you had planned. I wonder what your boss will say when you go slinking back to him with your tail between your legs to tell him that you not only mobilised the entirety of your army to wipe out our forces but that you failed to accomplish even the most basic of objectives, like even reaching the base on time. Not only that, but all you have to show for your efforts is a handful of dead clones, a number which isn't even a fifth of the total number you lost. Not to mention the lost supplies and vehicles.' The man lost his composure and just started pounding on me. By the time he was finished I was coughing up blood. He then signalled for two of his goons to lift me up.

'Seeing as how I'm a dead man anyway, how many officers did we kill in the end?' He spoke through gritted teeth.

'16!'

'16 huh, I was sure it was 17.' I could hear his teeth scraping over one another.

'No.'

I gave the man a blood filled grin, 'you sure?', and lunged at him.

When the man had been beating me into the mud I had taken out my standard issue Vibro knife. Why they never checked me for concealed weapons before presenting me to their boss I will never know, all the same, I was glad they didn't. I stuck the tip of my knife into the lock on the cuffs and waited for the right moment. Pro tip for restraining prisoners, never tie their hands behind their back. It might make things harder for them but it makes it worse for you 'cus now you can't see what they're doing.

Once I activated the blade the cuffs just fell off my wrist and I pushed off of my knees as hard as I can. I buried the blade into the man's jugular, screaming 'Aranar bal Edeemir.'

The blaster bolts hit soon after.

* * *

Fordo POV

I stood on the bow of the Venator command ship in orbit around Jabiim. While the surface left much to be desired, the view from orbit held some beauty to it. The soft swirls of the storm clouds became hypnotic if one stared at them long enough.

'They did us all a great service. We shall never forget them. When my planet is free, the deeds of Boar Company will be known to all.' Orlis was an average human male in every sense of the word bar one, he had the strength of character that surpassed nearly all within the galaxy. 'And we shall also not forget what you did for us.'

When I arrived back at the Republic base I began evacuation procedures immediately and within minutes Orlis was there to confront me. The Republic had been to Jabiim once before, at the start of the war, but it hadn't gone well. Just like this time, our forces were threatened to become overrun with Nationalist troops so the commanding officer at the time ordered a full retreat. Orlis had never forgiven Skywalker for abandoning him.

When Skywalker ordered the retreat during the first Battle of Jabiim he had saved his men at the cost of the Loyalist troops. Orlis came to confront me to make sure that didn't happen again. It had been hard to rebuild the trust Skywalker had destroyed but Saesee Tiin had done it. He had reintegrated the Republic and the Loyalists and pooled our resources to fight together.

I believed I was running on a tight schedule, that Boar Company would buy us a few hours at best and a few minutes at worst, so I prioritised my men. Orlis had been furious. Even when I told him I would be staying planetside to help organise all evacuation efforts, even Loyalist, his anger hadn't abated. It was only when he called me a traitor that I fought back.

'A traitor?! I am anything but. You'd do anything for your men, yes? Well so will I. My loyalty was never to you or to your people but to mine. A traitor?! I have told you I am willing to provide any and all assistance I can give, but my main priority is my own peoples' safety, just the same as you.' He had brushed me off saying promising something you know you cannot deliver is nothing less than a betrayal. I didn't want to admit it, but he was right.

In my heart, I believed that I wouldn't even be able to evac all of my own men let alone any of Orlis'. That was why I was so surprised that night came with no sight of the Nationalist army. Day 2 rolled around and only a small amount of clones were left on the planet, which meant I had another choice to make, load the transports with Jabiim Loyalists or with the base's supplies. I'm not ashamed to admit it had been a hard decision but, in the end, I ordered preparations to begin to evacuate the Loyalists. In the end, while valuable, I felt the Loyalists held more worth than the supplies.

Orlis had begun to thaw at that. Seeing that I saw worth in his people helped with getting him to come around. If I was surprised that we had enough time to begin evacuating the Loyalists then I was astonished that Boar had given us enough time to load up the supplies as well. Once the base had been cleaned out, and I had finally left the planet, Orlis had cornered me to find out whether or not I had been lying about the Nationalist army. To be fair, I was beginning to doubt that they really existed too. A quick scan from the Venators sensors revealed that the Nationalist were very real indeed. When he questioned me on why the army hadn't reached us I told him about Boar and the 40 brave men that comprised it.

'Thank you, but let's save such talk for after liberating your planet.' Orlis nodded solemnly.

'Yes. Speaking off, what do you plan to do to achieve that goal.'

'I called in reinforcements.' Orlis seemed pleased.

'And when can we expect them to arrive.' Never underestimate a Mandalorian. If Boar Company hadn't already hammered that truth home then the Republic fleet just coming out of hyperspace would have. It must be a lesson the Gods really want Jabiim to remember.

'Right about now.' Orlis just gave me a deadpan stare, but all that got him was a self satisfied smirk. 'Just remember, never underestimate a Mandalorian.'

Again, the Gods must really want Orlis to remember those words because, no sooner had I finished, the comms flared to life. 'This is Commander Gree of the 41st Legion. Did someone ask for some help in saving their asses?' Gree. It had been too long since I had seen my old friend.

'While this situation seems familiar, I must confess to not having been on the side needing help before. I gotta say Gree, if this is what it feels like to have to have an arse rescue me, then I owe you so so many apologies.' I laugh drifted over the comms.

'Just you wait. We'll have this mess cleaned up within the week.' For once, I believed him. After all, if there once one thing Jabiim had taught me, it was this:

Never underestimate a Mandalorian.


	53. Chapter 53

Ahsoka POV

The assault began as soon as we arrived. I left the command table to allow Yularen to do his thing while I went to do mine. I know that the Turned are on our side. It was how far their loyalty went that I questioned. So, as any good commander would, I decided to stack the odds in my favour. I headed to the bow of the bridge and settled into a meditative pose.

The Turned were a trained military, that was true even now, but I knew that following my orders were the last thing they wanted to do. Their loyalty wasn't to me, to the Chief or even to Mandalore. I knew that they wouldn't follow any complex orders so I only gave them the basic order to destroy the Death Watch and let them do so however they liked. While it gave them more room to move as they pleased it also meant I wouldn't incur any resentment, which would severely hamper my plans. Now it was time to stack the deck. It took me a lot longer than usual to enter into my Battle Meditation, though I believe that was only due to the fact I was influencing far more people than I ever had before.

As my consciousness started to reach out to all of these different minds it was hard to separate them from myself. Although, in the end, I managed to do so. Just.

The first thing I did was give the Turned a general feeling of accomplishment and vigour that would have them performing to the best of their abilities rather than holding back due to the fact they were killing those they had, not too long ago, called vod. Once I had spread those feelings to all the Turned, I began to wheedle my way in deeper. Normally, at this point, someone using Battle Meditation would try to influence their enemies to feel fear and despair. Fortunately, I didn't need to waste time with this due to the Death Watch already being afraid of the 501st. No, I could instead focus on influencing the Turned on a deeper level. On a subconscious level.

I started to induce feelings of belonging and unity into the troops, specifically those who still harboured resentment towards the Chief, between them, the Mandalorian Army and the clone troopers. This was a more morally grey area of Battle Meditation. By inducing these types of feelings, directly into the subconscious, I am conditioning the Turned troops to follow and obey the Chief.

This wasn't what a Jedi would do. Hell, they hadn't even told me I could. I couldn't bring myself to care. While learning Battle Meditation I had only been told it can give bravery or fear and that I could choose which side gets which. I hadn't been told I could influence things like loyalty, that had been found out during my own experiments.

During my time with the Valkyries, I had been restricted on what Force Abilities I could use, so long as it wasn't overt I could use it. Every night I routinely practised Battle Meditation. It was during this time I learnt about being able to artificially create unity between certain parties. It was why Bo Katan had trusted me so quickly, I conditioned her to. It took a while before I realised exactly what I was doing because the Jedi didn't have any records of this happening in the past, or they hadn't told me it had happened before. But then, even knowing what I was doing, I hadn't stopped myself. And I was using it again now. I knew the Council wouldn't approve but I felt it was more important to force the Turned to become loyal to the Master Chief rather than allow them to turn on _us_ and potentially kill thousands. I felt that a small act of evil was better than to allow a greater evil to take place.

It didn't take long before the Death Watch remnants was either wiped out or had jumped to hyperspace. Admiral Yularen had been focusing on the bulk of the Death Watch ships which left my Turned ships to take out the stragglers. However, without the order to target said ships, more than a few Death Watch had escaped our assault. In the end, it wouldn't matter. Hood would declare them dar'manda and that would be that. Death Watch would never again be able to build up a force big enough to fight Mandalore.

Once space had been cleared it was time to send in the troops. Due to Mandalore possessing domed cities it was impossible to properly launch the ODST's as the ODPs would never be able to break through the dome. The Master Chief instead settled for sending several groups ahead of the main gunships to take the landing platforms and secure them as a beachhead for the next stage of the assault.

* * *

Rex POV

It truly felt like home.

Kamino, for all the time I spent there as a child, had never really felt like home. Perhaps it was because I knew that one day I was destined to be shipped out and would probably never see it again or because I knew there was a better one, one that wanted me and that I wanted in return, was out there waiting for me. Either way, Mandalore felt like home.

I wonder how many of the men would be gazing on this for the first time ever. While this would be my first look with my own two eyes I had used my Captains clearance level to look up all I could find on the planet. I've seen all sorts of things about my home. The planet had a single, huge wildlife reserve on the other side of the planet that is dedicated to preserving the animals that once lived all around this planet. While many of the animals were undoubtedly extinct what few remained were treated with the utmost care.

I knew that the deserts now covered over two-thirds of the planet but, due to their artificial nature, nearly none of it ever reached a temperature above what most would classify as temperate.

I had seen the art and history of our world and people unfold before my eyes as I scoured all the documents I could find. I had even found mentions of the original Spartans. While every clone on Kamino knew the story of the Spartans last stand on Malachor V nearly nothing else was known about them. Now I knew so much more.

A fair and just people to their own, but ruthless and uncaring to outsiders. They once used slaves to do things like farming and other physical labours so that they could dedicate more time to perfecting the _Art of War_. Speaking of, they had supposedly written a sacred text called _The Art of War_ but it had been lost with their fall on Malachor. It was supposed to be the ultimate instruction on how to wage war and how to do it successfully. A man named Sun Tzu, a Kaleesh who had joined the Spartans, had written it and passed it onto the leader of the Clan. Tzu, for all his martial prowess and strategic mind, never once tried to take command of the Clan. Instead, he settled for a General's role and lead the Clans forces in times of war. It was said that the reason for the Clans success in war, despite their lower numbers, was due to their skill and Sun Tzu's texts.

Either way, I had done my research on Mandalore but nothing compared to seeing it all in person. Not that I could admire it for long.

I, and a small group of ODSTs, were sent to secure the main port of Sundari, the capital city of Mandalore. It was a quick fight. We caught the Death Watch guard unawares. Even hearing the screaming ODPs didn't give them enough time to properly ready themselves. Now we had to wait for the dropships.

The Master Chief was the first one off. He had stayed on the Xiphos to make sure that the rest of the ports were taken without complication but was now planetside to lead his forces personally. It was little more than a show of force, his presence not being needed to be able to deal with Death Watch, but it was needed. If the Master Chief wasn't in Sundari leading the 501st when it liberated the city questions would be asked. And we really didn't want questions.

I had to give the Director regular updates on my progress with Darth Bane. I hadn't gotten very far into my studies yet, learning little more than some basic force techniques that would let me get used to my new powers and some lessons in Sith philosophy and history, but I still had to give personal reports to both the Master Chief and to the Director in person. I was sure both had been monitoring me during my sessions and, as I handed the Sith Holocron to the Chief after each session, it wasn't like I was doing any out of hours studying so I didn't really see the point. But then, the Director wasn't one to explain anything she didn't want to. Which made it weird she would share with me as much as she had.

Due to the fact that I saw so much of her, I had, at some point, decided to ask the Director questions. Most of the time it was just general stuff like how the war was going, what was going on in the Senate or even the occasional reading suggestion. Sometimes, however, I asked more personal or sensitive questions. I now have intimate knowledge on the inner workings of ONI, the process of Spartan creation and why the 501st was sent to Carlac and then, in turn, Mandalore. I don't know why Halsey's telling me any of this, I have asked multiple times, but again, she isn't someone to say something if she doesn't want to. Which just makes it all the more confusing. In the end, I just stopped questioning it.

I stood on the left of the Chief while Cortana, who was dressed in her custom clone armour, was on his right. The Chief was resistant to her presence on the planet at first, not wishing to put the girl in any sort of danger, but, after a lot of arm twisting from both the Director and Cortana herself, he relented.

Cortana had been kept relatively unknown to the galaxy at large. It was in an effort to protect her both from the Separatists and the Republic. But now it was time for her galactic debut. Halsey was sure she had secured the Chiefs promotion to Mandalore and that he would soon be under galactic scrutiny. If Cortana was kept hidden then people would begin to wonder why. Halsey wanted no one to be able to undermine the Chiefs right to rule.

The rest of the men finished getting into formation and, finally, it was time to begin. The harbour doors pulled apart to reveal a city on fire. The Chief calmly walked to the edge of the tunnel that leads from the docks to the city and stopped. The portion of the Legion that had come with the Chief matched in step with him, never more than two steps behind.

'Captain.' I stood at attention.

'Sir!'

'Are the men ready?' The best way to move around a Mandalorian city was with a Mandalorian jetpack, they were standard for all armour sets. As such, the Chief had ordered all the men to wear one. The Republic kept a large supply of jump jets and jetpacks but rarely ever authorised their use. Mandalore would be many of the men's first time using them.

'Yes sir!' All the same, they had been trained in how to use them and I had faith in them.

The Chief took two steps back, once more coming into line with Cortana and myself, then gave the order. 'Begin.' The men crouched, angling their bodies in preparation for flight. The Chief, on the other hand, retook his two steps as fast as he could, leaping when he reached the edge.

The Legion rocketed off, having already received their orders and positions. The Chief, however, was left in freefall as his armour had integrated jump jets and no place to equip a jetpack. Not that it mattered. With a quick firing of his jets brought him into the path of a Death Watch speeder. He quickly dispatched the men inside and took control of the vehicle. My squad, Cortana and I were quick to follow our commander. The speeders back door and we quickly filed in.

The speeder was little more than basic camouflage to transport our little group as close to the Sundari Palace as possible. With the city in the state it's in, it wasn't hard to imagine that Death Watch had control of, or were currently assaulting, the Palace. It wouldn't stand up to close scrutiny, what with the broken window where a Spartan recently smashed through, but it would get us closer than just flying there.

It was a short ride to the Palace and we didn't make it the whole way before someone took a shot. The Chief dodged it easy enough but that just meant it was time to leave. I moved to stand beside the speeders back door and opened it. The men filed into line behind each other and waited for my signal. Chief dodged another shot and I began.

'Go, go, go!' I gave each man a little push out of the speeder as they jumped out of the craft. They had all folded their arms across their chest to minimise their profile so there was less chance of hitting anything. Cortana was the last jumper before me and, after helping her out, I took my turn.

I let myself fall the customary two seconds to allow my body to decelerate properly and then activated my jetpack, taking the head of the V formation the men had arranged themselves into. We took off at full speed after the speeder, letting it and the Chief absorb all the shots as we sped to the Palace Plaza. Once the speeder was no longer flying but instead hovering over the plaza platform the Chief jumped out. As his body skipped along the durasteel platform the speeder went careening off to the left, exploding as it slammed into the side of the Palace.

As the lead I was the first one to the plaza, passing quickly over the Chiefs still rolling body, and cut my pack, falling into a roll that would take most of my momentum. As I sprung back to my feet, my pistol already in hand, I took careful aim of the men in front of me. I only had to deal with a single Death Watch trooper. I dispatched him quickly and left the men to deal with the rest while I took off as fast as I could for the Palace itself.

Force Enhancement was a simple Force technique that even Jedi Younglings learnt, and it was my first true foray into Force abilities. With it and my jetpack I rocketed towards the Palace and, instead of taking down the heavy duty doors, leap towards one of the windows as I palmed one of my sabers. A quick ignition of the blade made short work of the Duraglass and allowed me to surprise the men waiting inside. A quick count revealed seven of them.

Before the mission began I had asked the Chief for permission to use my Force abilities to their fullest. I hadn't had much experience with them and had only been allowed to use Force Enhancement on Carlac but I really wanted to test my capabilities, to use everything I had, though, admittedly, that wasn't much right now. The Chief agree and now I had just stumbled upon the perfect situation to begin the tests.

I noticed one of the troopers reacting marginally faster than his peers, not that it helped. With a quick flick of the wrists, his gun turned to a nearby friend and fired. I ran to the stunned trooper with the blade in hand and rammed it into his chest before he realised I was anywhere close to him. Using his body as a shield, I took the time to generate a Force Push and slammed it into the chest of another trooper, crumpling his chest plate and spraying blood everywhere.

During my time under Darth Bane, Bane had come to explain that the two sides of the Force were not as separate as some, on both sides, may hope to believe.

'After all,' he said, 'do we not use the same techniques. They may have been created via different methods and for a different purpose but they are still a single technique.' He had a point. The droid E-11 and the clone DC-15 were both blasters. One was made for power, the other for accuracy. But they weren't exclusive, nor were the methods of their creation. The Republic could make power oriented blaster just as easily as the CIS could make more accurate ones. In the end, it came down to battle doctrine. The clone army made every shot count while the droids filled the field with fire and hoped they hit something. Why would the clones want a powerful but inaccurate weapon and the droids a precise but underpowered one when it didn't fit with their style of fighting?

The Jedi and the Sith were the same. One used emotion to power their techniques while another emphasised control. Why fuel a technique with emotion or try to control it when that wasn't how you were taught to fight? All that did was mean your technique would be weaker than if you did it in a way you already knew how to do it. I, for example, could use the E-11 because I already had the basic knowledge of how to use a gun.

Why is this relevant? Well… I didn't exactly have a large amount of Force energy. Nor did I let my emotions run free even in the most stressful of situations. This made it hard to teach me how to perform techniques like Force Push the same way as Bane does. So, instead, Bane taught me to control what I did have to use the least amount of Force possible to perform the technique.

'This does not make you a Jedi.' He had been very clear on that point. 'The Jedi claim that one who uses the dark side is a Sith. They are wrong. A darksider can be a Jedi just as a lightsider can be Sith. Afterall, it is not _how_ we fight that decides to which side we belong, but _why_ we fight. It is merely a coincidence that the ideology of the Sith lends itself to the darkside and the ideology of the Jedi lends itself to the light.

'The lightside has just as many techniques that can be abused as the darkside. If someone does use them for self-gain are they still a Jedi? No. Despite having never been tainted by the darkside of the Force they are not Jedi, but Sith. Our code says it is the Force that shall set us free, not the darkside.'

The way I performed Force Push was similar to grabbing a handful of credits. I just took a handful of Force energy and took a few seconds to see how much to put back or how much I needed to take. Once I had enough, some careful aiming into the right place, say the weakest point of pressure on a chest plate, took care of the rest.

With three Death Watch down I summoned the second blade to my hand. I spun to the side, ripping my first blade out the far side of my meat shield, and threw my second blade at one of the troopers attempting to rush me. They activated their jetpacks, expecting it to take them clear of my blade, but another flick of the wrist shut the pack off meaning all they accomplished was a little hop right into my blade. I jumped into a rolled to the side, all the while summoning my blade back to me, which left the body in the path between me and my blade. He didn't even have time to react before the top half of his body was sliding off the bottom half.

The next trooper was easy. With a little bit of blade work that the Chief had taught me and the woman was killed with her own blaster bolt. The fight came to an end with the sound of a blaster hitting the back of my helmet.

'Don't move.' The last trooper had manoeuvred his way behind me and was resting a blaster to the back of my head.

'Funny. I was gonna ask you to do the same.' The Palace doors flew off of their hinges and flipped twice in the air. They both hit the ground and came racing towards me. I had no time to react. The first passed centimetres from my face while the second was just as far from my back, slamming into the last trooper. All according to plan. Bane said I might not have the largest pool of Force Energy he had ever seen but he did say that my passive Future Sight and Danger Sense were far higher than in any being he had seen that didn't have prior Force training. All those feelings I got in battle, it was the Force warning me of incoming danger.

'What took you so long?' I turned to face the Master Chief, who did not look too impressed by my _amazing_ stunt or my after-quip. Not that you could really tell what he did and didn't look like.

'I would have been faster but it seems I was a man down. Know anything about that?' He quickly surveyed the room. 'Had fun?'

'A little.' He gave me a brief nod. I rejoined my men and we started to make our way further into the Palace, towards the Throne Room.

Considering that they were in control of the single most culturally significant building on the planet, a building that symbolises a Mandalore's power and rule, there was a surprising lack of Death Watch presence. And even then it wasn't exactly hard to deal with them. You would think that Vizsla would cram the place with as many of his best as he could. That way, even if his forces on the outside were defeated he still held a valuable, and extremely practical, defensive position. The Mandalorian way was a way of might makes right. Of course, there was also public opinion to take into consideration but Hood wasn't exactly a popular choice there just wasn't a reason to replace him. No one better, no one worse.

Besides, it wouldn't be hard for Vizsla to turn public opinion his way. Despite being the massive shit that he was, it wouldn't be hard for Vizsla to be declared Mandalore. Mandalorians weren't exactly a moralistic people and had installed a number of questionable people as their leaders, hell we revear someone who nuked his own people as a saviour. If he kept control of the Palace long enough then the people would start to question what the point in fighting against him was. All Vizsla had to do after that was show he was both a strong and capable leader.

So why wasn't he doing that?

He didn't need to subdue the people, they would fall in line in time. He didn't need to destroy Hood or the current Mandalorian armed forces, they didn't have the numbers to keep the Palace let alone retake it from him. And he didn't need to fight Hood in a one-on-one honour duel because Hood already turned down the position of Mandalore, meaning Vizsla didn't need to prove he would make a better one. So where was he?

We made record time to the Throne Room, dealing with Death Watch swiftly. Once at the door the Chief had me try to sense the numbers within the room and their positions. I felt five living souls, only one being anywhere near the throne. With this, the Chief gave me the go ahead to try my newest technique. Force Strangle.

Again, I didn't have enough power to just grab someone with the Force and snapping their neck. Fueling this technique with raw power was like grabbing someone's throat and applying all the force you can. Enough power and force will break someone's neck, a bit less will at least still strangle them. Someone like me, however, couldn't do that. Instead, Bane taught me to think of it like slowly wrapping a noose around a person's neck and gently tightening it. This was all in an effort to keep them unawares. Next step was to yank them up and keep them there till their feet stop twitching. So that's what I did.

I spent several minutes, an unreasonable time in combat but fine in our current situation, slowly wrapping tendrils of the Force around the four guards throats. Just this was taking all the concentration I had. I somehow managed to give the Chief a brief nod and he opened the doors.

I pulled the tendrils as tightly as I could and four sets of feet slowly lifted off the ground. They had tried to turn and fire on us but gave up before firing a shot to try and pull off whatever it was that was trying to strangle them. Not that it would help. The fifth one obviously tried to put up a fight but had their gun shot out of their hand by the Chief.

After my four targets had stopped twitching I let them drop to the floor, and I dropped with them. I was exhausted. One of the benefits of a smaller reserve was that it refilled quicker. Force Reserves were directly tied to a person's body and constitution. This meant that someone with a large reserve could go a long time using the Force without tiring their reserves or their body. But, once they exhausted their reserves their bodies tire too. A larger reserve meant a longer recovery time and a longer period of exhaustion, a smaller reserve meant a quick recovery period, though at the cost of easier exhaustion. This actually fit well for me.

Due to how small my reserves are I can't actually die from over usage like some Force users and that the worst effects I will ever experience from Force Exhaustion is a little tiring in the limbs rather than being bedridden like some people can be. To fully refill my reserves took little more than a minute or two.

After that time was up I got to my feet as fresh as a Jebwa. I turned to look over at the throne and saw another dead Death Watch. His head was turned towards me, eyes blank, mouth foaming. I felt nothing for him. I turned to the Chief. He was rooting through the mouth of one of my kills, a woman. A gentle, for him, tug and then he removed his fingers. He held up a tooth.

'Poison.' Of course it was. That still left the question of where Vizsla was.

'He's not here.' Every gun in the room whirled on the voice that came from the doorway. The Throne room had another corridor that leads off to the council chambers a little further into the heart of the Palace.

'Lord Hood.' All our guns came to rest and the Master Chief moved forward. Hood held out his hand and the Master Chief took it with great care and respect.

'Master Chief. How are you son?'

'Well, sir. You said Vizsla's no longer here?' Hood gave a short nod.

'Right. Come with me.' Hood turned back down the corridor with the Master Chief instep. Cortana hurried along to join the Chief with the clones and I fell into step behind. Hood lead us down a few more corridors before stopping in front of a door. It was big and heavy. No way Death Watch would be breaking it down without a hell of a lot of hard work. As Hood pulled up to the door the doors creaked open. The heavy blast shields slowly pulled apart and the actual door behind them scraps open. Once finished, Hood moves into the room and the rest of us follow.

It's the council chambers. Mandalorians had always been unique in their practices. Where most people would protect their leader as best they could, the single person in charge, Mandalorians spent more to defend the councils. This is because any Mandalorian can become Mandalore and, even if there is no one worthy of the title, we can survive without one. The council, however, was much more important to protect. Not due to their power and influence, the Mandalore had far more of that, but because of what they represented. Stability.

If the council members are killed in a single strike then Mandalore will devolve into chaos. It would become the clan wars all over again. It is a relatively peaceful process to select a new Clan or House head but that is partly due to no one trying to promote themselves, instead being chosen by their peers, and because the other Clans and Houses not involved are there to keep it civil. If an entire council, or at least most of one, is killed off there will be no one to keep the peace and those who can subdue their Clanmates to become the new Clan Alor will. It would be worse if we lose the House Council. Not only would we lose one of our senior levels of command but we would also have Clans scrambling over each other trying to become the new House in charge of their respective territory. The councils will be filled with the most ruthless and opportunistic of our people instead of those who at least do the bare minimum for their people.

The council chamber reflected this important fact. It was the single most heavily defended room in Mandalorian history, you'd be hard pressed to find anything harder to break into in the entire galaxy. The Banking Clans could learn a thing or two.

Walking into the chamber revealed screen upon screen, showing every inch of the Palace. The meeting tables holoemmiter was showing a holo of Sundari and all the battles happening around the city. The red of the Death Watch was shrinking rapidly. The room itself was filled with Mandalorians but they could all be sorted into two groups. Traditional and nontraditional.

The Traditional Mandalorians were obviously council members. They wore the traditional armour of their territories, which really only meant the little differences that match their clans specialities, and the basic T-shaped helm of our people.

The nontraditional Mandalorians wore a bulky armour that seemed to be slightly reminiscent of the Commando Troopers Katarn Armour. Bulky but allowed for fluid movement. Short visors that still allowed full vision. Heavy defence but light enough to move quickly in. These guys were special forces. They must have been the guards of each of the council members but were obviously members of the armies special forces, otherwise they would be in clan armour too. The only thing was there were enough of them, more than enough if I was right about them being special forces, to retake the Palace. So why hadn't they? And where was Vizsla?

This whole thing was making no sense.

'Honoured council members, may I introduce to you Shev'la of House Vizsla, Cortana Halsey of Clan Keyes and some of the soldiers of the 501st Legion.'

Halsey.

This was all Halsey's doing. Hood couldn't have known the Chief was once called Shev'la without her telling him. The reason why Hood hadn't sent out his men wasn't because he couldn't. No. It was because he was showing off the Chief to the rest of the council. Halsey had Hood in her back pocket. This whole thing was a show of not only the Chiefs skills as a warrior, they were known the galaxy over, but his skills as a leader, the loyalty he inspires and the selflessness he shows on and off the battlefield. Halsey and Hood had used this entire invasion as a sales pitch for the Chief's eligibility as Mandalore and were trying to sell that to the council. And from the looks of it, it was working.

The council swarmed the Chief, asking him question after question. It gave me a good laugh to see the stoic and immoveable man that has lead the Republic to victory after victory look so lost and helpless in front of what can only be described as fanboys. When the Chief finally managed to wriggle free he immediately turned to address Hood.

'Where's Vizsla?' That shut everyone up. Hood sighed.

'He's gone.'

'Where?' Hood took another long breath before answering.

'Offworld.' Poodoo.

The Chief wasn't too happy about this either. 'How?' Hood stood tall, back straight and unflinching, as he stared straight into the Chief's eyes. Unafraid of the simmering anger that was starting to seep into the Spartan.

'He ran as soon as he heard you were in the system. He left his army behind to continue the invasion to distract you, knowing you would follow if his men all started to retreat.' The cold fury fully took hold. The Chief moved over to the meeting table and rested his palms on it.

 **Bang**. No one saw him move. One moment the Chief was calmly resting against the table, the next his fist was inlaid in it instead. Wanna know the worst thing? That table was made of Beskar, the strongest metal in _existence_ and, while he didn't break it, with his fist alone the Chief had dented it enough to be visible even from my angle. Hood walked over an laid a hand on the man's shoulder.

'I get it, son, truly I do, but you can't let him get to you. I know how much it means to you to catch him, to end whatever threat he may have posed, but right now that's impossible. All you can do now is wait. He will resurface, of that you can be sure. And when he does we'll be waiting.' The Chief just shook his head.

'That's the point. We should have taken him _now_ so he _can't_ resurface and try again. It is our duty to protect the people of Mandalore and we let him set this world ablaze. And now, we've just given him a chance to try again.' This was personal. Due to them being from the same Clan, because the Chief knew Pre before meeting Halsey or just because Halsey made it personal I don't know. What I do know is that the Chief was blaming himself for all of this. _I vow to protect Mandalore and all her colonies_ , that was part of the oath the Chief made so many years ago, the oath that he lives by. For such an attack to occur on Mandalorian soil was something he could never forgive. And especially if it could happen again.

'Sometimes, that's just the way things go. All we can do now is try to find him before he strikes again and to do what we must to keep everyone else safe if we can't. And you can start right now.' The tension was slowly leaving the Chief. He turned his head to Hood.

'What are you talking about?'

'We have survived without a Mandalore for over a century, but look what's happened. 3 Civil Wars, and potentially another on the way. Clans and Houses are fracturing at the seams and we have lost so much of our culture, so much of who we are. We can survive without a Mandalore but what we have to give up to do so just isn't worth it. We need one to grow, to thrive. So, are you ready? Do you really want to help Mandalore grow?'


	54. Chapter 54

Rex POV

The roar of the crowds could still be heard in the Throne Room. The cheers of _Mandalore_ and _Reclaimer_ , and numerous variations of, swarmed into the room from the open balcony that the Chief would be using to address the people in a moment. Hood had arranged for a parade to take the Chief and the entirety of the 501st past the people of Sundari. We had started at the harbour, wound through the streets and finally arrived at the Palace only moments ago. The Chief had taken a moment to stand before and admire the throne before finally taking a seat.

'Do you know why you're here?'

'To rub it into my face how _right you were_?' Satine Kryze had grown bitter since I had last seen her. Then again, she had lost everything she had worked so hard for. The Chief had here brought from her quarters to the Throne room as his first official order from the throne.

'Wrong. You are currently the only Coruscant trained diplomat in Mandalore's possession. I need you to act as my voice in the Senate and promote Mandalorian interest's.' She didn't look too pleased.

'Possession?! I am no one's possession. And is that how you think of the people of this world? That they are mere items for you to use and discard?' The Chief rose from his seat.

'That is exactly what they are. Those people out there, the men in this room, even myself, are all things to be used. We are all possessions and all of us, we all, belong to Mandalore. We all fight and serve to protect the very ground beneath our feet. Now I ask again, will you serve Mandalore?' Satine folded her arms across her chest and shook her head.

'I cannot, in good conscience, serve you.' The Chief's fist balled.

'In good _conscience_?! Fine. If a clear conscience is more important to you than helping your people then they will no longer _be_ your people, Satine Dar'ali.' Satine stumbled back, shocked.

'Dar- Dar'ali?!' Damn. The Chief must still be simmering over the Vizsla incident. It's the only reason I could think of for why he was being so harsh.

To be Dar'manda meant, in literal translation, _no longer Mandalorian_. It was a term used for _lost Mandalorians_. A lost Mandalorian is someone who acts in accordance with the Mandalorian spirit but performs acts that go against it. Death Watch was a prime example. They act in the Mandalorian spirit, wanting to bring back our warrior past, but don't act in full accordance with the Resol'nare, i.e. attacking other Mandalorians.

To be Dar'ali was the ultimate sin. Dar'ali comes from the word Dar, meaning _no longer_ , and aliit, meaning _clan_ or _family_. Dar'manda are misguided souls who have committed crimes but can be brought back into the fold if shown the error of their ways, So we exile them, leaving the chance of redemption. Dar'ali are people who purposely try to harm Mandalore, Mandalorians or just straight up break the Resol'nare and so are cast out. A Mandalorian might hunt down and kill a Dar'manda but they will do worse to a Dar'ali. Family is everything to Mandalorians and someone who knowingly betrays theirs earns the anger of all Mando'ade. At worst, Satine deserved to be Dar'manda. She just chose the wrong time to act against Mandalore, its people and the new Mandalore.

The Chief turned to Echo, one of the troops assigned to Mandalore guard duty, and ordered him to escort the disgraced Duchess to the Palace's landing platform. She was to be escorted off-world and back to Coruscant before anyone knew of the decision. At least the Chief was beginning to calm and start thinking rationally again.

Echo took the woman by the arm and she offered no resistance, still too shocked to protest. I moved up to the Chief and leaned into his ear. 'Was that really a good idea?' We both knew it wasn't.

'She will be safer on Coruscant.' A fair point, but…

'Safer to be Dar'ali than Dar'manda?' The Chief made a small movement with his head.

'If she stayed here the people would force me to act. Their anger over her treatment of our warriors will eventually boil over into anger and full on riots. I would be forced to declare her Dar'manda. She will be forced to leave the system but the people will stop her and kill her before she leaves the planet, let alone the system. And Mandalorian law would allow them to do so without repercussion.

'Once she is on Coruscant it won't matter if she is Dar'manda or Dar'ali, Republic law will protect her from any Mandalorian who would wish her harm. Any who still try would then be punished, whether they succeed or not.' I relented. He wasn't exactly wrong.

While his decision had been made in anger it was, indeed, for the best. Satine was no longer safe on Mandalore now that she had rejected the Mandalore's offer to become our Senatorial representative.

Outside, the crowds still roared. 'It's time.' With that, the Chief moved towards the balcony. The crowd became even louder upon seeing their new Mandalore. It was by their own deeds that Mandalore's earned their names, though the Chief had always been an exception. A Mandalore earned their epitaphs through their own deeds, Mandalore the Ultimate being undefeated in combat and Mandalore the Survivor saving our people from extinction. Instead, the Chief's name was given before he even became Mandalore.

Reclaimer. A name like that held a lot of weight. He was expected to bring back forgotten secrets of our past, secrets that allowed us to stand alone against the galaxy and hold our own. Much had been lost since the time of the Old Republic, by the Republic as well as the Mandalorians, but the Chief was meant to bring it back and still help us to move forward. He would help to shape Mandalorian society as we know it for generations to come. He could say old Mandalorians kissed the ring of the Mandalore before being allowed to join the army and the people would do it. He held a lot of power to do whatever the hell he wanted and, as such, a lot of responsibility.

Still, I wasn't worried. I knew that our future was a bright one. But we couldn't become complacent. It would be a long and hard road ahead, and I didn't need the Force to tell me as such.

* * *

Halsey POV

It was time. John has just been made Mandalore so we could now move operations from Kamino to Mandalore. We had been preparing for months to be able to move operations but had kept being delayed, Amidala's saving of Satine being the latest setback. But, that just meant we were more than ready when the time came.

A Black Alert sounded around the entire facility. Everyone knew what that meant and had been trained to act accordingly. The Kaminoan scientists immediately started moving the developing clone fetuses to specially designed transport ships with top of the line engines and shielding, we wanted nothing happening to the ships or their precious cargo. While the number of clone fetuses had dropped significantly since the _loss_ of Jango's DNA we still had a considerable amount left to mature.

ONI Command immediately sprung into action, securing all files and data drives and placing them into secure containers. ONI's files were to be transported alongside the fetuses. Those that had developed, on the other hand, were split between the leftover fetus transport ships and the active military vessels we had, depending on their age. Any clone over the age of 9 was to be transported to our destination on the various Acclamators and Venators that made up the Kaminoan defence fleet, seeing as how they were old enough to fight now. Any clone under 9 was to be transported with their developing brethren, as they were all still too young for the rigours of war.

While this was happening I moved to my terminal and activated Black Alert procedures. Black Alert was originally designed to only be activated when ONI Command had been infiltrated in some way. Obviously, that hadn't happened, I was just able to activate it whenever I wished. Still, it was meant to have been activated when security was breached. Which is why only I was to know the destination of our newest facility.

In the interest of safety, only 5 people could access my terminal to activate Black Alert. My terminal allowed someone to take control of all the Navcomputers of the fleet and input the Black Alert rendezvous destination. To make sure they remained the only person with prior knowledge of our destination, the terminal locked after one use and none of the navi-computers showed our destination. Although, the would only allow them to input a destination and the ship's pilots will still need to activate the hyperdrive.

Hood and I had worked closely, in recent weeks, to build a secure ONI facility on Mandalore. It was nicknamed ONI Alpha Site. It would be ONI's main facility on the planet but more had been planned.

'Director Halsey, what is the meaning of this?' Lama Su. Black Alert was created by ONI for ONI, the Kaminoans hadn't been told more than what was needed. Lama Su had been trying desperately to sink his teeth into ONI since the start of the war. He wasn't too keen on an organisation like ONI running in his city without his influence. While I had allowed a few Kaminoans to join Section Three to help with certain projects I had made sure to limit their advancement unless I had secured their allegiance first.

'Lama. To what do I owe this pleasant visit?' His nostrils flared in anger.

'You know very well why I am here. Why has the alert been sounded, why was I not informed and where are we moving to? I need to send word ahead to prepare our facilities to accommodate the growing clones and I can't do that without knowing where we are transporting the clones.' He squared his shoulders like he was giving me a scolding. The fool. I turned back to the main screens. Serrin had brought up footage from the cameras all over Tippoca, without having to be asked, to allow me to view the evacuation process. 'Director.' I continued to ignore him.

We had made significant progress. The fetuses had been successfully transferred and many of the remaining troops were know being transferred off world. ONI Command had boxed up all the files and now needed to move it to the transports.

'DIRECTOR.' **PEW**.

Lama looked down at the hole in his chest and then to the smoking pistol in my hand. I turned back to the screens and gently placed the pistol on the desk as Lama's corpse slumped to the floor. Everyone in command paused briefly, no more than a second, before getting back to work. Good. I turned to Serrin.

'Begin Clean Up procedures.' She gave a nod and left.

Clean Up was known only to ONI, and even then it wasn't widely known. It basically meant cleaning up the Chancellor's trash. In reality, the procedure was simply a hit list. Several people in various ONI Sections were tools of the Chancellor. Ideally, I would be rid of them all but many still had some use. Clean Up dealt with the ones whose use had run out. This meant they could either be replaced or were no longer needed. Clean Up also dealt with the Kaminoans. I had a second list of Kaminoans but this was for those to be left alive. This was either due to their allegiance belonging to me or due to them having skills or information I needed. In essence, Clean Up was the order to commit Kaminoan genocide. The ones handling Clean Up were the Spartan 3's, ONI's personal security force.

With that done I called for Spartan team Skirata to come and escort myself and the data to my own personal ship. While procedure stated to transfer the data to the transports I didn't care, I didn't want that data out of my sight.

My personal ship was an experimental ship called a Prowler. It was a stealth vessel that was designed to be a scout ship. It had top of the line shields and engines, some light weaponry and a new stealth system. It was invisible to all current methods of detection but lost use of shields and weapons when cloaked. Still, it was a good tradeoff. I had plans to mass produce it for ONI's personal use. With our recent success on Jabiim I had plans to make use of their extensive stygium crystals, though they would be used in a project far larger than the Prowlers.

'Black Alert huh. Any particular reason?' Kal had remained a close ally since his childrens augmentations. He was one of the few Mandalorian trainers left in Tippoca, most having joined their troops on the battlefield. It made it a nightmare to find more mercenaries to train new clones, especially without Jango and his reputation to help with recruitment, but Kal had been hard at work. Since having his ankle fixed and allowing his boys to reintegrate into the army the man had been short on things to do, so I gave him tasks instead. Usually simple missions to get him back into the swing of things.

'John has just become Mandalore.' He took a brief second to take it in before nodding and heading onto the Prowler. He settled into the co-pilot seat while his boys went to secure the cargo. Serrin would oversee the transport of Section Three's more sensitive material while I took Clan Skirata and myself back home. I wonder how much it had changed?

* * *

Padme POV

You would think a bill as important as this one would have been decided upon quickly, but no. We had been debating for over a week now on what to do about the Jango DNA situation. Since the attack on Kamino, the Senate had been thrown into a frenzy. Without Jango's DNA, the Republic was slowly becoming vulnerable. While we still had clones coming out the Kaminoan facilities that wouldn't last long. I had been of the opinion that we would need to reduce the number of clones produced before the attack happened, as a way of de-escalating the conflict. I had been preparing such a bill to be brought to the floor before this whole mess erupted.

My bill was all in an effort to bring the Separatists to the negotiating table, to bring an end to the war, but this attack had only emboldened them. With the Republic no longer able to produce troops the Separatists had decided to take advantage and increased their attacks in the Outer Rim. While we had been the ones to initiate the Outer Rim Sieges we could no longer afford to reinforce them. While troops were still coming soon there would be no more to reinforce our various campaigns. The Separatists took that to mean that they could win if they bled us dry faster than we could bleed them of their droids.

The attack had also come at the unfortunate time of the Master Chief and the 501st official military leave. Their missing battlefield presence was sorely felt. Just yesterday reports came in that, not only had we lost 4 planets but a total of 8 Jedi Masters as well. The worst part was that 3 were Masters on both the Jedi Council and the Military Council and that they hadn't fallen in battle but to Separatist assassins. In short, things weren't looking to be winding down soon.

My focus was drawn away from the current speaker to one of the empty senatorial pods. Not every planet sent a delegation to the Senate but they still all had a pod. Even such a momentous vote as the vote on how to proceed in the war didn't draw in all the delegates. How pitiful.

The pod that drew my attention belonged to the Mandalorian delegation. They had been notably absent from politics in recent months due to the upheaval of their government. It would seem the dust had finally settled and they would be rejoining the Senate. I couldn't say I was particularly pleased.

Mandalore would hold a lot of influence in this debate. After all, who better to ask on how to win a war then the people who took on the _galaxy_ and nearly won. Who better to ask on how to survive and fight back against the Separatists then the people who came back from nothing time and time again, stronger than ever before.

If Satine had still been in charge I would have welcomed Mandalore to the debate, hoping a sense of rational would overcome the frightened animals that were currently squawking about the Senate auditorium. But Satine wasn't in charge, Hood was. For all that he was a calm and collected man and one who could be relied upon to see things rationally, he was still a soldier at heart. I doubt he would back a peaceful solution unless it was clearly the correct choice to make. Unfortunately, in such times as these, war was an equally as valid choice as peace.

A Mandalorian in full armour wrangled a Senate guard out of the way of the Mandalorian pod and stepped forward. I was surprised to see someone, even a Mandalorian, allowed into the Senate building in armour. It was normally a no go anyway, having to be taken off at various checkpoints throughout the building. In peace times Mandalorians, and other such cultures who wear armour for ceremonial purposes, are allowed to wear their armour but none of the weapon attachments. It was a bit of a rule bend but a harmless one. The Senate Guard were a lot stricter on that sort of thing during wartime.

The Mandalorian quickly started typing away at the pods' control pad and activated its general announcement function. This allowed any pod to project their conversations to the whole senate floor.

'Mandalore asks to be heard.' If everyone hadn't already quietened to see what the commotion was about they would have been silenced now. Mandalore had been a hot button topic for centuries due to their past deeds against the Republic. Any time Mandalore asks to be heard people listen, even if they dread what Mandalore has to say.

'I am here today to announce that Mandalore will be breaking its neutrality, by order of the Mandalore.' No. Oh god no. Please…

The Senate floor erupted into chaos. After all the bad news in recent days to hear that Mandalore had a Mandalore and was now actively participating in the war was just the icing on the cake. Everyone knew that Hood had turned down the position of Mandalore and that Pre Vizsla was after it instead. To hear he had taken Mandalore and would be joining the Separatists…

'Mere days ago, Death Watch troops invaded Sundari and took control of the Sundari Palace. Here, Pre Vizsla declared himself Mandalore. However, soon after the True Mandalore's forces entered the Mandalorian system and repelled Vizsla and Death Watch.' The terror that was spreading through the Senate evaporate into thin air. What did he mean _the True Mandalore's forces_? Who was the _True Mandalore_? He continued.

'The 501st was able to quickly and efficiently repel the invaders and stabilise the planet.' No way. He couldn't mean… 'After, Lord Hood himself presented the Mandalore to the council and he was sworn in.' The man gave a sweeping gesture behind him.

'I present to you, John-117 of Clan Sparta. Mandalore the Reclaimer.' And the room erupted into cheers.


	55. Chapter 55

Padme POV

People were falling over themselves to get the new Mandalore onside. The Master Chief had stated to the Senate he would be officially ending Mandalore's neutrality, saying that Death Watch's connections to the Separatists were grounds for lawful dissolution of Mandalore's cease-fire treaty. The new Mandalore had also solved our little troop problem by promising Mandalore's army and future soldiers to the war effort. The Senate was so happy they didn't even hesitate before agreeing or look at his demands.

The first demand was, perhaps, the most important. Mandalorian citizenship for clone troopers. Due to the Republics Cultural Heritage laws, made in an effort to allow systems to preserve their own traditions and customs while also obeying Republic rule and law, the Mandalore can official accept anyone in the galaxy as Mandalorian and they would officially become a Mandalorian citizen, so long as the person in question also wished to be Mandalorian. The only reason the Chief included this as a demand was that, by law, the clone army was filled with Republic _property_ , not Republic citizens.

The reason this demand was so important is that the Senate had basically just signed away our army and gave it to Mandalore. Before the Clone Wars the Republic had no standing army and let each system make and sustain their own armies. This was done because the Republic didn't want to show unfairness to its lesser members or put undue pressure on those that couldn't afford an army to bow to the Senate's wishes due to the threat of invasion. Yeah, look how well that went for Naboo. Still, it also meant that no sitting Chancellor could enforce a regime.

The reason this was so important was that, once the war and if the Republic won, Mandalore would have the largest army in the galaxy and could occupy any and all planets they wished simply because no one would be able to stop them. They could carve out an empire from Republic planets. The only problem Mandalore would have would be supplying and feeding their people and troops, but then they could just use their new planets to supply new troops and make their army even larger, eventually taking over the entire galaxy.

The second demand was for funding. Due to the small size of the Mandalorian system compared to the size of its new army, it wasn't hard to imagine they needed help funding it. While this would cost the Republic less than the production and arming of clone troopers it would mean Mandalore would turn into a very, very strong economic power, as well as a military one. I didn't doubt that Mandalore would invest the money as soon as they got it back into their system, increasing things like infrastructure, material production and businesses. They could use the money we give them to pay for their army to be able to make themselves self-sustaining again.

Their final demand was for the Republic to provide the materials and workers to build housing for all of their new troops. They needed barracks and regular housing as well as an increased number of hospitals but were only asking for housing. It was a small ask, and one the Republic really should have thought of sooner considering we would need a place to house the clones anyway after the war, but on top of everything else, it really was overkill.

The real problem didn't come from the Mandalore's demands, rather, it came from what we didn't demand of him. We didn't demand oversight. I had no problem letting the clones become Mandalorian, it was their choice and their heritage, and I had no problem paying them, they were putting their lives on the line, but by allowing all of the clones to convert into Mando's we were giving the Master Chief complete control over the army. Without oversight, the Master Chief had full control over where the army went, what it would do and how far it would go to achieve its goals. Mandalorians were pragmatists and had very little in the way of morals. Without oversight, I feared the war was about to devolve into a very brutal and disgusting display of violence. The argument could be made that the Chancellor still had control of the officers since the structure of the army wasn't changing and, with control over the people giving the orders, had control over what the army did and where it went. The problem with that was it would only take a word from the Mandalore and then the soldiers wouldn't listen to their commanders. If that happens then it doesn't matter what rank a person holds because no one would listen to their orders or carry them out. In short, complete Mandalorian control.

Only the Chancellor and a small handful of senators shared my concerns. I had nothing against the Master Chief, he had done so much already for the Republic and for Naboo, but, with Mandalore's track record, putting Mandalore in such a position of power wasn't a pleasing thought. Even if the Chief didn't take advantage of the new position he had put Mandalore in someone after him might. The Chancellor had tried to put a halt to this by trying to table the vote for another time, to try and rationalise with the various senators jumping to pass this new bill, but was unsuccessful. In just 3 hours the Senate had made, passed and implemented the bill that signed away the future of the Republic. The cheers that erupted throughout the Senate were sickening.

So this is how democracy dies, with thunderous applause.

* * *

Rex POV

My leg wouldn't stop twitching. The Chief was currently in talks with the Senate about solving their little troop problem. Hood was ruling over Mandalore in the Chief absence and I was here as the captain of the Royal Guard, the Chief's personal bodyguards. Hey, I didn't name it. I had hand-picked a squad of 501st men that would become the temporary members of the Royal Guard with me until we got back into the war or until the Chief had picked a more permanent Guard from the non-clone, Mandalorian roster.

Currently, Hevy and Echo were guarding the Chief, Hevy having gone to announce the Mandalore's presence to the Senate, while I let the others have a bit of time off. The Guard was only put in place to calm the Councils and Lord Hood. Kix, Tup, Jesse, Hardcase and Dogma made up the rest of the Guard, who were all chosen for either their close connection to the Chief or for their undying loyalty to him and his command.

I don't know what the others were doing with their time, probably getting hammered knowing some of them, but I had decided to wait in Riyo's Senatorial office and I was getting nervous, hence the shaking leg. By the time Riyo came in, she didn't look to be in the mood to see anyone, let alone someone in Mandalorian armour.

Hood had rounded up some traditional Mandalorian armour before we left Mandalore and had the Royal Guard change into it. He said it was in an attempt to show unity and as a statement. The statement being we were Mandalorians now, not clones, and that our allegiance was to the Mandalore and not to the Republic. Riyo didn't look too happy to see Hoods statement.

'And what did you want?' She had quickly taken shelter behind her desk and crossed her arms, refusing to take a seat. I nervously took off my helmet.

'I… Um, well… I came to see you.' I gave her a nervous little lip curl that did nothing to diminish her anger. In fact, seeing me only increased it.

'So you were in on this too, were you?'

'Well…' She cut me off.

'Save it. What do you want?' I looked down at my feet and did an awkward little shuffle.

'I actually came to ask you out for a drink but, obviously, you don't want one. I'll get out of your hair now.' I put my helmet back on without raising my head. I felt so ashamed. I didn't like having people I cared about angry at me, least of all Riyo. I turned around without ever letting my eyes reach hers and marched out of the room.

I refused to lift my head at all and just focused on getting out of the building and going… somewhere. I don't know. I just knew I didn't want to be here anymore. I felt my eyes getting itchy and wet which just made me more frustrated. I was better than this. I've survived both Battles of Geonosis, I conquered the jungles of Felucia and am the Clone in charge of the most feared Legion in the Galaxy. I earned the Jaig Eyes for Gods' sake. I did not break down crying 'cus someone got a little upset with me.

But I was. I felt like I had betrayed Riyo and her trust and that hurt, a lot. I had this weird feeling in my chest that I couldn't explain.

'Wait.' I turned back to see Riyo running down the corridor to catch up to me. By the time she reached me she was lightly panting. 'I'm sorry. I know it's not really an excuse but so much has happened in the past few days that I've been on edge. But even so, I should never have taken that out on you. I'm up for that drink if the offer is still there.' A smile snuck its way onto my face, a smile Riyo returned, and just like that, that weird feeling in my chest was gone.

I returned with Riyo to her office, to let her finish her work for the day, before taking her out to 79's. Unlike last time, 79's had a decent amount of non-clone patrons and the atmosphere was a lot more subdued. Riyo said she had come at least twice with some friends since I had last been and that my little speech about discipline had filtered through the entirety of the army. Sure, some still went a little overboard and had to sleep it off in a cell but most had become more reasonable. It was nice to see clones and non-clones getting along so well.

And in such decent numbers too, not that that would last too long. Tomorrow, when news of the Chief's promotion and the new status of the clone troopers, I suspect clones across the galaxy were gonna go on the biggest bender in history and that it would be remembered for the rest of time.

Riyo had gone to find us a table while I went to get us something to drink. It was surprising how easily we fell back into old routines when talking to each other, despite having just had a fight. As was inevitable, the conversation eventually turned to the Mandalore situation.

'The worst thing is just what this means for us as a Republic. While I trust the Chief, and he has proven time and again to be loyal to the Republic, the fact remains Mandalore will be a major player in the future, perhaps the biggest.'

I gave a little shrug. 'And that's a problem because…?' Riyo continued.

'Because in a democracy everyone is equal.' That always confused me. Maybe coming from a military background gave me a skewed point of view but I never thought of everyone as equal, and I told Riyo as much. Having been raised alongside the Spartans I always knew how much better than me they were, being a commander showed me that I was a better leader than my peers. We just weren't equal. 'It has less to do with ability and more to do with worth. Everyone has equal worth and every opinion is equally valid.' I shook my head.

'Who votes on tax reforms?' She was a little surprised at the change of topics but I pressed her for an answer.

'Well… senators do.'

'And do all senators know a lot about taxes and the economy.' She shook her head. 'Well, I'm assuming the senators were well informed before making such an important decision. So, who informed them?' Riyo gave me a dry look, like she was humouring me.

'Corporate officials, economists, tax specialists…' I jumped in.

'And what about opposition. Did they have a say in this?' She pursed her lips.

'No…' Before I could jump in again she cut me off. '...but they didn't need to be. You're confusing fact and opinion. Yes, all opinions are equal but facts are more important by far. Someone can think mental illness is made up and that people are faking it but we shouldn't stop helping people with mental conditions just because popular opinion says they don't believe it's real because the facts support that such conditions are very real.' It was hard to argue against that.

'Well then, what about everyone being equal. Both the Master Chief and I are soldiers and I am in no way his equal.' She had an answer for that too.

'That's because you are only looking at one thing and making a full generalisation and comparison. Yes, the Chief is a great warrior, but you have other qualities in other areas.' Seeing that I disagreed Riyo tried it again from a different angle. 'Compare me to the Chief. While he is the better fighter he is by far the worse politician between the two of us. That speech he gave the Senate, his list of demands, all written out beforehand, and certainly not by him. We have different areas of expertise and skill. We have equal worth.'

I downed the rest of my glass. I snatched my glass and planned to march to the bar for another before Riyo stopped me. 'Think of it this way, if democracy didn't have any worth then the Mandalorians wouldn't have taken parts and fit them into their own government. A vote for democracy is a vote for Mandalore.' I gave a snort.

'That should be your next campaign slogan.' With that, I went to grab another drink, significantly less grumpy. Riyo let out a burst of laughter. After getting back to our table Riyo decided that, since I was the one to bring her to this fine establishment, I needed to show her all that it had to offer, specifically the dance floor. It wasn't very big but there were a few people having a good time, most being clones either having found someone to dance with or drunk enough to be up there on their own. I gave a little protest but, eventually, Riyo managed to drag me out there.

I don't know how long we spent dancing but we stopped at least twice for more drinks. I eventually put my foot down and told Riyo I would be taking her home when she began stumbling.

The taxi ride back to 500 Republica had been, how do I say it, well… _hard_. Riyo kept trying to drape herself over me and kept _accidentally_ touching places not suitable for the public. The unrepentant grin on her face showed she knew full well what she was doing and had no plans to stop. When I eventually got her to her door she tried to drag me in with her. That's when I drew the line. 'No.'

She looked understandably upset, asking if I didn't want her or like her that way. 'It's not that.'

'Then why? You rejected me the first time, brought a buffer for the second and now you're just saying no.' I rubbed my hand over my head.

'The first two times I didn't _exactly_ know what you were getting at. I was raised on Kamino with my brothers, not many changes to go out and talk to girls or understand social cues and doublespeak. This time, well, you are very, very drunk. How about this, tomorrow I take you out to dinner and then after you can decide if you wanna do this then.' She gave it some thought before agreeing, making me promise. I left after that.

Tomorrow would be the start of my new life. I would officially become Mandalorian, gain not only citizenship but representation and, hopefully, I might just enter into a relationship with an amazing woman who meant the world to me. All that and from my talks with the Chief it looked like the war with the Separatists was coming to its end, though it would still be a hard road ahead.

Life was good.

* * *

Satine POV

Life was horrible.

I had a lot of time to think over all that had happened and come to the conclusion that life sucks. The past few months I've essentially been under house arrest. Hood, a man I thought understood me and the vision I had for our people, and supported it, had turned on me in a heartbeat. I know that he hadn't wormed his way into power but he hadn't wasted any time tearing down everything I had worked towards, true peace for our people.

Both the Army and Navy have been re-established, WESTAR's back in business with new top of the line weaponry and MandalMotors had been commissioned to build Hoods new fleet. And that wasn't even the worst part, MandalMotors were traitors. Hood launched an investigation and found them to have been supplying ships to Death Watch. Instead of arresting the people who authorised and organised all of this, imposing fines or even sanctions on the company itself he let them off the hook so long as they only sold to Hood, broke trade with Death Watch and accepted oversight from one of Hoods people to ensure they didn't break the terms.

I have had even more time to think on the trip to Coruscant. Was the Chief right? Should I have put the needs of my people before my personal feelings? Probably, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I couldn't abandon my ideals like that at the drop of a hat. It felt too much like a betrayal to myself and all of the people who supported me.

'You did the right thing.' Count on Obi-wan to try and make me feel better. Echo had done his job and more, taking me directly to the Jedi Temple when he could have just dropped me off in the middle of nowhere and be done with it, though I didn't care much for the pitying looks have kept giving me.

'Did I though? I swore I would do everything I could to help my people. Does this not count?' Obi-wan took me into his arms and held me for a moment. I am reluctant to admit it but it did a lot to help, it felt like he could hug all my problems away. After a few moments of silence he spoke up again, this time to tell me how proud he was of me for sticking to what I believe in and I just broke down into tears. With everything that had happened I just couldn't take it anymore and to have someone say that all my efforts were worth it in the end, no matter the actual results, did indeed make it worth it. I may not have been able to help my people in the way I wanted to, I may have lost more than I gained, but in the end, I did make an impact. Death Watch was now vilified in the hearts and minds of my people, which I hoped meant that it would prevent people like Pre Vizsla rising to power in my beloved homeland. I may have lost but Pre Vizsla never became the People's Hero he so desperately wanted to be and isn't that a win all by itself. I may have suffered but my people benefitted still. Now all I had to do was figure out what to do with the rest of my life but I knew, with Obi-wan by my side.

I would be staying with Obi-wan in the Jedi Temple for the foreseeable future, I had no money or family left to go to, but they had been accommodating. I would need to find something to do with myself, being a career politician without a home to represent kind of made it hard to get a job. That and I was a _disgraced_ politician but really that was just the icing on the cake in this situation. Still, Obi-wan had put me in touch with our mutual friend Padme Amidala to try and see if I might be able to get a job as her senatorial aid or something, just a low paying job to bring some money in.

* * *

Palpatine POV

If I didn't have to maintain a carefully crafted image my room would have been demolished my rage was so great. How dare she? This was all without a doubt Halsey's doing, the Master Chief simply didn't have the capacity for independent thought. Halsey had been testing her boundaries for some months now and I had tried to force her back into the mould but that had done little to stop her little rebellion.

Now, don't get me wrong I was happy with the outcome of Halsey's latest stunt, to an extent, but the fact she went behind my back to do it and her little show in the Senate had brought my rage at her recent behaviour to its boiling point. She needed to be reigned in and I needed to reassert my control over the Master Chief, which would only be harder now that Halsey had essentially turned him into a free agent.

Not that I could do anything to Halsey herself. Her recent bout of confidence was no doubt due to the fact she was dying and felt it wouldn't matter what I tried to do to her because she wouldn't be around to suffer the consequences long. Seems she is unaware that I know of her illness and expected to take the brunt of the fallout from this herself. No, I would need to get creative with her punishment.

And, while I'm at it, why not kill two birds with one stone and bring the Master Chief back into the fold. He was still a valuable asset whose worth had only just increased with Halsey's manipulations. It had just become harder and costlier to control him but the payoff was well worth it, having the Mandalorians as my military force was a very valuable thing indeed. Something that would only become more valuable after the war when I would need the Mandalorians reputation to help bolster support from systems they have helped and to quell any uprisings through the fear they inspire in their enemies.

The only problem now was how to go about doing this. Something to think about later as my comm had just gone off.

'Ah, Barriss. How wonderful to speak to you again so soon. After our last talk, I thought you might be feeling better. Is something wrong?' Barriss Offee. A curious one indeed.

'Ah, no. Well, I mean… yes but… I am in need of help and guidance again but not about the same topic as before.' The girl gave a nervous shuffle. I had originally tried to sink my claws into the girl once I found out she had been chosen to become the newest Commander of the 501st and had been surprised by just how easy it had been.

The girl was a whole mess of emotions, from her unresolved feelings about her Master's death, for the perpetrator of said death and her un-Jedi feelings for a fellow Padawan. With this messy ball of emotions was it truly any wonder I had such an easy time slipping through the cracks. I had been the person she turned to for an _outsider's perspective_ on both her Master's death and on the Master Chief. Obviously, I had tried to help resolve these feelings, telling her how the _situation was unfortunate but the Master Chief's hand had been forced at the time_ , as having her grow closer to the Chief and how her Master's being necessary would only drive a wedge between her and the Jedi order.

I knew the girl had orders to spy on the Chief for the Jedi, thinking that her situation would make her the least likely to be influenced by the Spartan, but I had helped her to _come to terms_ with the whole mess. This only made it harder for her to spy for the Jedi as it drove feelings of guilt and betrayal inside of her for being forced to do _such a despicable act_ to a friend. As the cracks started to spread and her feelings on the Jedi increased I wheedled my way deeper inside. I started to show her the hypocrisy of the Jedi, a feat only made easier by her decision to join the medic corps of the 501st. This only showed her all of the suffering the Jedi were directly responsible for by authorising the first strike on Geonosis, the incident that started this entire war. The mess the Jedi made of said first strike only drove my wedges deeper.

The real breaking point came when the girl admitted to having feelings for another Padawan, our very own Commander Tano. It was too perfect. Tano was the antithesis of everything a Jedi should be yet still called herself a Jedi, was **praised** by the Jedi as an example to follow. It wasn't hard to, from there, turn Tano into a false narrative of Jedi corruption and manipulation, saying they wanted warriors but claimed to be peacekeepers.

The only little snag was that this only deepened the girls' feelings for her friend, seeing Tano as a victim of Jedi corruption. I had tried to turn Offee against Tano by pushing forward the point that Tano was too indoctrinated by the Jedi, too blind to see them for who they really are, and would never return her feelings.

Then Tano went missing.

The girl had gone undercover inside Death Watch. A wondrous opportunity. If Offee wouldn't turn against Tano then, perhaps, Tano could be turned against the Jedi. Tano was already becoming a point of contention between the various members of the Jedi council thanks to her recent stunt. She had essentially gone rouge to help out in an independent systems affairs, breaking Republic law. I was doing my best to help widen this gap but little more could be done until the girl popped back up. Still, highlighting Tano's more Mandalorian aspects helped to further break Offee's trust in the Jedi.

My last correspondence with Offee had essentially been girl gossip about how much Offee fancied Tano. Sickening, but that was the price to pay by becoming someone's confidant. Still, it did result in the eventual confession of Offee giving Tano a kiss as well as a very interesting tidbit about Tano's blades. They had changed colour.

Curiously, they became black encompassed by white, a colour only seen in the Mandalorian Dark Saber. Curious indeed. Back to the matter at hand.

Actually, this Tano Offee situation had given me an idea on what to do with the Chief and Halsey. To control Offee I needed to have control over Tano. To regain control over the Chief and Halsey I needed to gain control over the person they both value above all others, Halsey's daughter and the Chief's lover, Cortana. She wouldn't fall for my manipulations, oh no, she was too smart and well trained for that. Instead, I needed to get creative. I wonder if Tyrannus would have any suggestions?

'And what can I help you with today Barriss?'


	56. Chapter 56

Anakin POV

Sheev had been right when he said that my anger only made me stronger. The Master Chief had come before the Senate about a week ago to announce himself as the new leader of the Mandalorian people. My anger at the news had given me a wellspring of power that allowed me to tear through the droid forces. Force Lightning was swiftly becoming a new favourite for me and not just because it worked so well against droids.

The reason for my anger wasn't just because the Master Chief had, once again, gone behind someone's back and broken the law to secure himself even more power, no, I was also angry because of what he was allowing _his men_ to do.

Since the announcement of the Mandalore's coronation _Mandalorian_ troopers throughout the galaxy had been revolting. It wasn't anything too overt but the amount of insubordination had skyrocketed, and no one could do anything about it. The clone troopers stood together, ignoring any and all orders that they found _unjust_ or would lead to _unnecessary loss of life_. It was just their way of rebelling.

Many a Jedi sent messages to the council to complain about this but nothing could be done. No clone troopers were punished because no other clone was willing to court-martial their brothers and sentence them to death over all of this. And Force help any Jedi who had tried to do it themselves. There were over a dozen reports of clones killing their Jedi Generals in _self-defence_. And nothing could be done about them either as there was no way they would come in peacefully for trial. No attempts had been made to bring in entire Legions forcefully for obvious reasons.

This wasn't to say that the war had come to a stop. No, the clones were still fighting but had turned to their officer brethren to lead them. I, luckily, hadn't had such problems with my Legion, they were loyal to their core. They too seemed to have the same hatred I do for their insubordinate siblings.

This shakeup had alarmed the Senate and they were in a desperate scramble to assign blame. Apparently, they found the Jedi to be at fault. After a _review_ of past files and complaints on the Jedi since the start of the war, it had been _found_ that hundreds of clone divisions had filed complaints against the Jedi leading them and their suitability for command. It was claimed that inexperience and general disregard for clone lives were the foundation for these complaints but I knew differently.

The Master Chief had been at work since before the war had even begun, and no one but me saw it. He had constantly positioned himself into the perfect place to not only increase his influence but to undermine the Jedis as well. It just so happened it was the Master Chief who showed off the Spartans to the galaxy by managing to hold off me and Master Kenobi back on Coruscant. It just so happened the Master Chief had managed to showcase his skill in a duel with Master Windu. It just so happened that my command had only truly failed when the Master Chief was in a position to undermine me and steal my Legion. He had been constantly taking advantage of the Chancellors trusting nature since the war started to take more and more power for himself. This was all just the culmination of years of work. He had obviously used his influence with ONI to create false reports and present them to the Senate as justification of his mens insubordination and to insert his own officers into key positions.

He wasn't even trying to hide it anymore. There is no way an investigation like the one the Senate performed into the insubordination of _Mandalorian_ troopers took less than a week. He had used this mock investigation to put _temporary liaisons_ in command of the various Legions around the galaxy as a _compromise_. These Liaisons were to assess each Jedi on their command ability and decide whether or not they could remain in command of their Legion, be forced to take lessons in command if they were performing under par or be removed from command altogether if they were completely incompetent or biased. The fact the Senate agreed to these outrageous demands showed how much he had the Senate wrapped around his finger. Even Padme was beginning to become disillusioned with the man.

While my relationship with Padme had become increasingly rocky, all thanks to the Master Chiefs efforts to undermine me, his only rival, no doubt, I had been reconnecting with my estranged wife over the past few months. For the first few days, she refused to talk to me or even see me. That had eventually given way to at least speaking to me via hologram. It had taken a long time but I had eventually managed to talk her into eating a meal with me. That had been about a month ago, before my latest deployment.

Since then I had been in more frequent contact with Padme. While she was still a little cold and dismissive to me but at least we were starting to have real conversations again. We mainly stuck to work, not daring to venture into each other's personal lives at the moment just in case, and Padme had offered significant insight into the Senate and their handling of the Mandalorians. To say I was not impressed would be an understatement.

The main thing that stood out was that Padme claimed the new Mandalore had not stuck around on Coruscant for long after getting what he wanted. He had not assigned a new senator for his people in his stead but had promised to assign one soon, leaving Mandalore out of current Senate proceeding. Not that it mattered, most senators were sucking up to the Mandalorians anyway so they didn't even need to be there to protect or express their interests.

It was times like this that one started to see the wisdom in the Separatists claims about the Senate and the Republic. The Republic needed a singular leader who was both strong and dedicated to the best interests of the people. I believe we have such a person in Sheev and was pleased the Senate had given him the appropriate power to act at the start of the war. I dread to think what would have happened if the Senate had been directing the war. It was going bad enough already. Damn Mandalorians.

* * *

Windu POV

I had mounted my speeder as soon as I heard the news, a farming village was on fire. I was currently stationed on the planet Orto. It was a Separatist held world but my troopers and I were currently contesting that claim. Orto was of vital importance to the Republic war effort due to its proximity to Raxus, the seat of the Separatist Senate.

Orto had only recently come under Separatist rule despite this proximity. Its held little value to anyone bar the minerals it sold in trade. All but the equator of the planet was covered in ice and even the more temperate regions of the planet were unsuitable for harvest for most of the year. Orto sold most of its minerals for food, giving preference to planets or businesses offering large amounts of exotic food. Which is why I was so concerned that a farming village was in flames. Every single village was vital to the planet's survival and each one lost put a massive strain on everyone.

I saw the smoke from some distance away but it was only when I got closer that I heard something that made me put my foot down and drive faster. I heard chanting.

When I arrived at the village proper I leapt from my speeder only to be confronted with hundreds upon hundreds of figures kneeling in front of a pyre made in the centre of the village. The figures seemed uncaring of the burning buildings around them, merely continuing to chant.

The chanting was accompanied by many more figures who were standing and stamping out a beat for the chanters. The chanting itself alternated between short sharp shouts and extended periods of fast chanting. The kneeling figures were half bent over, arms extended and hands pointing towards the fires. I moved to interrupt but was stopped by a black armoured figure.

'You aren't welcome here.' I turned to the man.

'Explain yourself Vau.' Walon merely angled his head away from me towards the chanting Immortals. He turned back to me before answering.

'We're offering tribute to the Gods. We're celebrating.' Vau's reverence was clear.

'By burning peoples homes and food? And celebrating what?' Vau gave a sharp laugh.

'Homes are just buildings when there's no one left to live in them.' What? 'And what else would we be celebrating, the crowning of the Mandalore. We give praise to his father for sending such a fine son.' I turned back to the pyre in the centre of the village and looked closer. Piles upon piles of Ortolan corpses.

Vau, seeing where I was looking, told me they had been harbouring Separatists and refused to give up their fellows. Vau ordered them all executed as punishment for this _crime_. The bastard had the audacity to look pleased with himself. I drew my blade and ignited it. 'Careful Jetii, it won't be me you have to worry about if you interrupt this ceremony, but the Gods themselves. I think Kad Ha'rangir will be especially displeased, and pissing off a God of War is never a good thing to do. Besides, what does killing me do other than send me into my Gods arms sooner?' He was right of course. Not about his damned Gods, they could rot in whatever fantasy hell the Mandalorians had conjured them from, but about the part where killing Vau himself would do nothing. The Ortolans were already dead and killing Vau wouldn't save them. In fact, it would only earn me the resentment of the Immortals.

Vau and his troopers were the definition of the word fanatics. This hadn't really done much but fill my Legions camp with an excessive amount of chanting and religious ceremonies, the occasional brawl over disrespect towards the Gods and a lot of extreme violence and aggression on the battlefield. But they had never done something like this before, t least not without prior orders or to anyone but the enemy right after a battle. The Immortals were a division designed to be used for psychological warfare and to spread fear. They had been given many questionable orders from ONI command before and I had been helpless to stop them. Not only were the Immortals under ONI jurisdiction but they would never have followed me even if I had ordered them to stop.

Killing Vau would only have me brought up on court-martial charges by ONI due to him being a member of their forces and the Immortals would bring me in without hesitation. They took great exception to being lead by a Jedi due to their people's past with the Jedi. I had honestly been surprised they had followed some of my orders in the past but then that could be chalked up to the fact that they were consummate professionals. I knew, however, they would never follow any orders they did not wish to ever again. Not unless their Mandalore or a Mandalorian of suitable rank ordered them to.

I clenched my fists, anger seeping into me. I took a moment to calm and recentre myself. A Jedi does not feel anger, he feels nothing. Vau must have sensed something because his lips curled into a snarl. 'Jetti.' He spat the word with as much venom as he could. 'You're all so high and mighty, saying that all life matters and kriff like that, yet you pick and choose when to act on that belief, on who to punish and who to save.'

'All life _is_ precious, but nothing can be done for the people you and your men murdered. They one with the Force now, they are at peace and far from your reach. You cannot hurt them anymore.' Vau looked unconvinced.

'So murders fine then? If all life is one with the Force then it doesn't matter what happens to their mortal bodies as you can't truly kill'em. That's nice to know.'

'That's not what I said and you know it.' Vau just brushed me off.

'That's the problem with you Jedi, you say one thing and do another. You say all life is precious yet there are innocent people you are unwilling to save or avenge, claiming that they will just become _one with the Force_. Then you go out of your way to help and protect others saying stuff like killing people is wrong. Apparently, people don't die so what the fuck does it matter to you anyway.' He gave me a dismissive wave and went to join the Immortals. 'Now if you'll excuse me, I have a ceremony to lead. These heathens lives may mean nothing to you but they serve a purpose to us. Though I can't imagine they'll be too pleased with what happens to them with where they're going.' Vau walked through the sea of kneeling soldiers, arms stretched to the heavens. As he began to preach in Mando'a the air seemed to shift. The smoke from the fires all seemed to slowly be coming together above the central pyre. Despite the heat, a chill started to run down my back and I felt an innumerable amount of eyes gazing at me, at my soul, warning me to leave or face the consequences. I was unwelcome here.

Baser instincts took over and I hurried back to my speeder. I left quickly for the city I had just come from, body still ready to face whatever apparition the Mandalorians had summoned. I shook away such nonsense thoughts and calmed myself. I comforted myself with the knowledge that confronting the Immortals would have only brought more harm than good and that there was nothing more that could be done for the poor Ortolans who they had murdered and that was why I had left. There was nothing more I could do. I would just have to be ready for the next time the Immortals step out of line and be ready to catch them in the act, take video evidence and report them to the Senate. Somehow even this did little to comfort me.

The days to come would also be tense and paranoia would be a constant companion. So long as I would stay on Orto my rest would always be uneasy. Every time I brushed near an Immortals all instincts screamed for me to get away, and yet it only took a single step away from them for those same instincts to fall completely silent. As for Vau, well, his every step sent a shiver racing up my spine. No matter how close he got he never sent my instincts screaming like his men did but I knew, I _knew_ , something was wrong with him, worse than whatever it was that was wrong with the Immortals. If I had to name this feeling I might have described it as fear. But that couldn't possibly be the case, after all, a Jedi cannot feel fear. And even if we could, the Force was with us, what could we possibly have to fear?

* * *

Gree POV

Reassignment. It was a word every clone dreaded. We were all trained in our own specialisations and assigned to a division that either needed a trooper with your specialisation or to a Legion that fit your skill set. To be reassigned meant you were unsuited to your role, the role you spent your whole life training to fill. It meant you were a failure.

When I received the order to report to Mandalore for reassignment my heart had dropped. I had just overseen final efforts to secure Jabiim for the Republic and was getting ready for a nice short rest before being sent back out to the front lines to reinforce my brothers, the job I was trained to do, the job I was meant to do. What was even worse was that I was being brought before the Mandalore. It was bad enough that I was being reassigned in the first place but to be brought up before the Chief himself took things to a whole other level.

As I moved up to the Council Chambers a guard stopped me. He asked me for my name and reason for being there. I told him and he seemed to mill it over for a second before waving me through, telling me to go right on in. I pushed open the doors.

'And Halsey has requested a large amount of stygium for a new flee…' The room paused at my entrance. I apologised and said I would come back later but the Chief just waved me off.

'No, we can continue this meeting later. Right now sorting out your situation is more of a priority.'

'My _situation_ sir?' The Chief briefly turned to the Council members around the table and gave them a brief nod. They all quickly got up from their seats, gave the Chief a short half bow and left.

'Gree, an odd choice for a name. Why'd you choose it?' I settled into my seat cautiously.

'I have a fascination with alien species, sir.' He gave a brief nod and moved the subject along.

'You were paired with Master Unduli for some time, were by her side in both combat and negotiations. Would you say you learned much in your time together?' This was beginning to feel a lot more like an interview rather than the interrogation I was expecting. Still a little weary of the whole situation, I continued to answer the Chief's questions with some trepidation.

'Yes, sir.' I didn't give any more. I heard the stories going around, about the Jedi and their command coming under review, troopers not following orders due to lack of trust in Jedi leadership, and I didn't want my head anywhere near the chopping block when the axe finally came down.

The Chief gave a small sigh, obviously seeing my reluctance to answer much more than I already was. 'Okay, fine. Commander, let me be as clear and as blunt as possible. Mandalore is facing a very unique and potentially damaging situation, and it is my belief that you may be the one to help us out of this odd hole we seem to have dug ourselves in. But to do that I need to know everything you have learnt from your time with Master Unduli.'

He brought me up short. 'Sir, I…'

With another heavy sigh, the Chief slummed back in his chair. He reached up with a hand and twisted his helmet off, scraping his other through his buzz cut. It was so easy to forget the man's true age in the face of his size, both his and his deeds. 'Gree, Mandalore is without a senator. This might not seem like a big deal but it is. Without a senator, someone to represent Mandalore and her people to the galaxy at large, we risk falling by the wayside. All that we have sought to achieve, bled and died to create, can fall apart so easily without a voice in the Senate. I am short on men who are qualified and whom I trust implicitly to do this job. In fact, you are the only one I have chosen who fits both criteria in any meaningful way.'

He quickly picked up the datapad from the table. 'I've read your reports, your's and Unduli's. You helped mediate and negotiate many tricky deals and agreements with some frankly astounding results. You have a strong desire to learn about and from others, as your name clearly shows. This helped make you openminded and accepting of others, skills a good senator needs. I and the rest of Mandalore need you, Gree, we have no one else. We are fortunately in a position that a selection doesn't need to be made immediately, we even have time for our new senator to shadow another that will help teach them about the goings on in the Senate and anything else they may need to know, but our time is not infinite. I won't order you to take this assignment, but I have few other options.' His eyes never wavered from mine. They possessed a sort of hypnotic sense to them. Not in that it tried to change your mind, kind of way, rather it felt like he was passing on a sense of calm rational along with some much-needed courage with little more than eye contact.

'I'll do.' He put back on his helmet and thanked me for my past and future service to Mandalore. I did the same. With a firm grasp of the forearms, he sent me on my way, ready for my new assignment.

While it wasn't the arena of combat I was trained for, it was Mandalore's most important and, unfortunately, our weakest. All the same, I was ready to enter this new theatre of war. Now I just needed a way not to get chewed up and sat back out by the most dangerous thing in the galaxy, a politician.


	57. Chapter 57

Jai POV

Spartan Time was an amazing ability. To be able to slow down your perception of time to such a degree that you can take in and process every bit of visual information around you and plan a clear route to objectives or through obstacles was a Godsend. For instance, Spartan Time made running through a crumbling droid foundry a piece of piss. I just wish Adrianna would stop setting off the kriffing explosives before we've even left the building. I don't know what it was with her but she seemed to enjoy explosions _way_ too much.

Spartan Time didn't just allow us to better process visual stimuli but auditory ones as well. Which is why I was able to react in time to the distinctive snap-hiss of a lightsaber. A quick tuck and roll was more than enough to get under the blade. Adi turned and unloaded a full clip into the Sith but they blocked every shot. Seems the big dog himself had come for us.

'You two are becoming a nuisance.' Huh, I'm insulted. We're far more than that Dooku. We might have some of the worst combat scores out of all active duty Spartans but that didn't make us incompetent.

'Hear that Adi. We aren't a nuisance yet. We need to step up our game.' She gave me a laugh. Dooku didn't look too pleased though.

'I have had just about enough of you.' Yeah, we weren't exactly at the top of the Sepys friend list. Halsey had us doing deep cover missions into whatever remained of Separatist controlled space. While official orders were to destroy droid factories and mineral processing centres she basically just gave us free reign to do as we pleased so long as we kept in touch and returned to ONI command for down time and debrief whenever we were told to.

I would like to say this freedom was a measure of Halsey's trust in us but it would be closer to the truth to say she was just keeping us as far from the frontlines as possible. Adi and I weren't exactly known for having smooth missions. Halsey liked to keep us as far from her delicate plans as possible.

As to why they kept going wrong it wasn't because some cosmic force was constantly making things go south for us, no, it was 'cus Adi liked to make things go boom. Case in point, the droid foundry's she routinely blows up with us inside. One of Adi's favourite things to make go boom was actually ONI issued Pelicans. I can proudly say that over half of the captured Separatist ships ONI used on covert missions had been stolen by us but that was only because we needed a ride off of whatever rock Adi had stranded us on and whose population she had pissed off.

Our missions and our behaviour on said missions had earned us the attention of the Sepy's commander-in-Sith on a few occasions, whenever one of our missions took us to a Separatist Purse World. We've become such a problem that he sometimes sent his lackies after us. Ventress, fallen Jedi and some of his more combat capable generals, and even Grievous a time or two, had all been sent after us on multiple occasions. Yeah. We were _definitely_ a nuisance.

I ducked under the next two strikes. Adi had reloaded and was unloading another clip, giving me time to draw my Saber. She abandoned her rifle while I moved in to engage, her moving to do the same.

While it was entirely possible to kill a Jedi or Sith with a gun there was no way we could do that against Dooku without catching him unawares. Dooku had not only the skill but the style too. While Soresu was the best defensive style Mikashi could make an effective blaster blocking style if used by a true master. Mikashi was a dueling style and had no real moves to defend against blaster fire. Still, The skill and techniques needed to block a lightsaber transferred well into blocking blaster bolts. So long as they could see the bolts coming and were fast enough to block them. It was hard to use Mikashi to send the bolts back like Soresu could but knocking them all to the side worked just as well.

If I had to pick a saber form I preferred it would be Shii-Cho, the first form. To say I was any good at it would be a mistake, I was competent at all forms and Shii-Cho was just my most competent. No, my greatest saber style was one all my own, a saber style reserved only for the Spartan Saber variant of my blade. To fight like a Jedi just wasn't in me. I was Mandalorian through and through and I needed a Mandalorian style.

I hadn't yet activated my Saber, instead activating the flamethrower attachment on my right-hand gauntlet. Dooku was forced to leap backwards and that's when I activated my blade. I thrust the two prongs forward. Dooku barely managed to knock my blade to the side. I followed the spin and lifted my blade above my head. Once I was facing my opponent again I brought the blade down as hard as I could. Dooku abandoned his single hand grip for two hands. The force of my blow sent him to a knee. I grabbed my right forearm and used my extra hand to force the blade closer. My blade was inching closer and closer when Dooku angled his blade towards the floor. My strength sent me sliding off and left me vulnerable to his thrust towards my face. I was saved from having my head speared through by Adi coming in with a flying side kick to Dooku's face.

'Booyah. How do you like that you little BITCH?' Dooku, after he had stopped rolling, picked himself off of the floor and lightly brushed of his cloak. The arrogant prick.

'So crass. It is a wonder you two are allowed to call yourselves Spartans. All reports about your siblings show they possess at least some measure of skill.' Adi's fists clenched. She was pissed.

Adi's favoured saber style was Ataru. It was the most aggressive form and required a lot of energy to use. It was best used against a single opponent and with a blade in hand. That may seem fairly obvious but not to Adi. She prefers fists to swords. If any Spartan was likely to get into a bar brawl it was most likely Adi. She didn't have to be involved or anything, if she saw one she fought. At the end both sides would have lost and only Adi would stand victorious.

Halsey had reluctantly made Adi's armour a custom order. Spartans were technically allowed to customise our armour as we wished but most didn't, a fact Halsey was more than grateful for. The base armour was a good all-purpose armour that had no distinct disadvantages at the cost of no real advantages either. Halsey had designed it as such and saw it as nothing short of a masterpiece of craftsmanship, any attempts to customise the armour were seen as defacing said masterpiece. She did accept changes to the helmets and adapting the head modules though. Adi's changes never failed to bring out a comment or two from the woman during our debriefs.

While I attached a few different styles of Mandalorian Gauntlet from time to time that was about it, Adi had basically gotten a full retrofit. Her armour was far bulkier than any other, even Jorge had lighter armour and that guy was _big_ , he towered over the Chief. Adi also had custom cortosis weave greaves and gauntlets due to the fact Ventress had nearly chopped off one of the girl's legs one time. Adi made a mistimed kick and paid for it. Halsey had exploded at us but relented to make the armour changes. We walked on eggshells around the woman for weeks.

Along with the cortosis Adi had bulked up on armour plating. It was at least twice as thick as regular Mjolnir armour due to the fact Adi liked to rush headlong into enemy fire, overloading her shields from all the shots she was taking, and punch her enemies into smears on the floor. Halsey had also beefed up the girl's reactor and shield tech so she didn't have to keep fixing the various potholes Adi accrued all over the armour.

Adi raised her fists to the Sith Lord. He raised his blade in a Makashi salute in response. She charged him, leaving me to pick myself off of the ground to rush after. With all the extra weight Adi was by far the slowest Spartan. Her logic was _why bother with speed when you can just punch something to death_. Such logic didn't work so well if you weren't fast enough to hit your target but Adi still prefered her one punch solution.

Dooku was dodging all her blows. He had learnt from our first engagement not to try and redirect her blows to the side unless he wanted to activate the cortosis and lose his blade for a time and take a punch to the chest while he was at it. He waited for the most opportune time to strike and lashed out. He scored a light slash along Adi's left upper arm, his saber barely cutting into her blucky plate armour. I was on him in a second. Dooku turned to block and that's when I had him.

Makashi was the undisputed best duelling style of all seven lightsaber forms, the problem was it was made for lightsaber to lightsaber combat. Dooku had reacted on training and instinct, treating my blade as a lightsaber when it wasn't. This was a weakness I had specifically designed my form to exploit.

I caught Dooku's blade within my blades prongs and gave a half twist. His blade slid right out of his hands. My hand was now upside down, an awkward striking position, leaving me to have to right it. Dooku had already recovered in that time and was ready to lash out when I sent a cutting strike at his neck.

The blast of Force Lightning caught me off guard. I was sent flying across the factory floor. Dooku had never used the technique against us before and I hoped to the Gods he would never use it again. A brief blast had my entire body in flames. The pain was simply agonising. As a Spartan I usually had fairly decent situational awareness, even when injured or in pain, but I was basically blind to everything right now. My eyes were wide open but I took nothing in.

My whole body was in a spasm, twitching involuntarily. I had never dealt with something like this before, no Spartan had. I was left completely unprepared. I was beginning to hyperventilate, falling into a mad panic. What the hell was happening? My mouth began to froth because I couldn't use my fucking body right.

Eventually, I began to calm down and regain control over myself. It had lasted no more than a few seconds but they were the worst few seconds of my life. I looked up. Adi had it worse. Dooku was lighting her up and she was writhing in on herself over and over again. Her screams tore into me in a way I just couldn't describe. The screeching metal and roaring fires around us were nothing compared to her cries for help. I was enraged.

In a second I was on my feet and halfway to Dooku already. I could tell by his sick little smirk that he was too caught up in the joy of torturing Adi to have noticed me. It only enraged me more. He only seemed to notice me after I had planted my body and sent my fist rocketing towards his smug fucking face. I was pleased to note that because of turning to look at me my fist not only crumpled in his jaw but broke his nose as well. The fact I had sent him flying head over arse over the twisted remains of the crumbling factory only brought more of that sick satisfaction.

As my rage left me I sunk to my knees. My whole body still burned with the fire of his technique. Adi was still spasming. Ignoring going after Dooku I grabbed Adi by her shoulder plate and dragged her towards the exit. It would have been a hard enough task normally due to her weight but with my nerves firing off pain signals at every movement I was surprised to even move her at all. The pain blanked my mind so I don't remember how I got her onto a ship or how I got the damned thing into the air or out of the hanger but I did. Adi had stopped twitching by now but that wasn't anything to be relieved about. I typed in the coordinates for Mandalore and activated the hyperdrive before keeling over next to my fellow Spartan. I just needed to rest.

* * *

Serin POV

I entered Halsey's personal office, files underarm. While I had the authorisation to sign off on these particular files I knew Halsey would want to see them. Kaddak and Vau had done it again. I placed the files on her desk, picking up others to replace them. I looked over the files I had just taken.

'Another Battle Hymn?' Halsey just nodded. She had transcribed about 5 full Hymns in all, this one being the latest. I took a closer look. 'Rage of the Shadow Beasts?'

'Yes. It seems the chant wasn't just a way to honour our past, but the Gods as well.' I leafed through the rest of the pages, looking for the Ceremony.

'More blood sacrifices to create…' I paused. 'A creature made of _ash and shadow_. Dha Werda Verda indeed.' Halsey gave a laugh.

'We have never messed about when naming things.' I had to agree. Rage of the Shadow Beasts had been a way to remember the Taungs, the progenitors of our entire people. It was only fitting that the ones who began our people be honoured by the Gods too.

'Give it to Kaddak.' Her voice shook me from my thoughts.

'Pardon?' Halsey repeated herself.

'Dar Werda Verda, give to Kaddak. His, Vau's and their men's faith will only see it work that much better. I want a proper test of this Hymn.' I thought it over.

'Is that wise? We haven't had a Hymn this overt before and Windu is already weary.' Halsey seemed to think it over too.

'Perhaps you're right. Send it to one of the others. If their Jedi finds out, eliminate them.' I nodded and made to leave. At the door I turned back to the Director.

'Do you really have to keep testing me? Haven't I already proven to you that I'm a worthy successor.' Halsey turned and raised a brow.

'This has nothing to do with that.' Confused, I pushed for more.

'Then why?' She took a second.

'Isn't it obvious? To challenge you. You are a worthy successor, yes, but you still have a long way to go before you can replace me, and even further left to grow after that. These challenges give you room to grow into your own, to push you beyond your current limits. All generations should build on what good the previous has done and fix any mistakes they might have made. It is the only way for a culture to survive.' Satisfied, I left. After exiting the room, I briefly turned back and caught a glimpse of a red glow coming from the room before the doors shut. It didn't matter now. I leafed back to the Ceremony page to take note of what materials would be needed for this Hymn so that I could arrange for their transport. There were some quiet rare materials needed for this one. It seems I had work to do.

* * *

Jai POV

Ending back up on Mandalore had gone about as well as expected. No sooner had we stepped foot off the ship we were accosted by Sam.

'Bone Squad. I heard you ran into a spot of bother on that last mission.' He had looped his arm around both our necks.

Anyone who said that Spartans didn't bully each other was mostly right. Most Spartans didn't see the need to needle and jab at each other so long as you did your job and you did it well. No matter how good everyone was someone would always be at the bottom so what was the point in ridiculing them. Sam didn't seem to agree. Bone Squad was the nickname he gave Grey Team. He called us it because he said we were boneheads and because we always got _tossed about like a dog would a bone_ in training. I can't say I liked Sam. I knew he was only joking but he seemed incapable of seeing when a joke went too far.

'I heard your meeting with Dooku was _explosive_. That your fight was _electrifying_.' Adi hadn't regained all her strength in the several hours it had taken to get between planets but she had enough to walk and more than enough to sock Sam in the stomach with a punch that _hurt_. Sam dropped to the floor retching. The guy was lucky to have taken his helmet off otherwise the sick would have filled it up. Kelly walked over and dragged the bastard away without a word. She usually offered an apology, as a courtesy more than anything, but didn't today. It seems she was as annoyed with him today as we were. Somehow the guy was best friends with John but then the Chief had the patience of a fucking saint.

Halsey had ordered us directly to Medbay after I told her what happened, Sam must have been on guard duty or something and overheard what had happened. We'd have our proper debrief after getting medically cleared. Adi seemed to be struggling part way there so I tucked my arm underneath her and helped walk her the rest of the way.

We spent about five days in sickbay with a whole host of tests being done on us. They showed nothing conclusive. While the pain had dulled significantly the fact that we still felt the lingering nerve damage despite there being no apparent damage.

When day six rolled around with no change Halsey decided it was time to get an expert on the matter and called up the Jedi temple. Rumours from ONI Command said the shouting match the call had devolved into was legendary. No one had heard Halsey so much as raise her voice. Things all came to a head when Halsey threatened to send troops marching into the temple to take what she needed if they didn't come and sort this out, or so the rumour goes. Whatever had really happened a Jedi healer was on Mandalore within a few days and was frog-marched to medical. They did some sort of Jedi Voodoo mojo shit and said we'd be right as rain in a few days. Halsey dismissed them without so much as a by your leave. When we asked her what had happened Halsey told us that tensions had already been running high because of her butting into a _conversation_ the council were having with Commander Tano. I wisely didn't ask.

* * *

Ahsoka POV

I had been putting this off. Attaching myself to the Chief's division had been a good way to avoid being called up by the council. With the Chief being on standby as he sorts out his vision for Mandalore I'm left with nowhere to go and no reason to keep putting off Master Kenobi's messages. When I finally accepted his called his face was dangerously neutral. Not a good sign.

'H-h-hey Master. How are things hanging?' I would have kicked myself if I wasn't in a call with Obi-Wan. He merely raised an eyebrow at me.

'The Council has summoned you. No excuses. Come now.' He cut the call there. No raise of his voice, no overt facial twitches, no nothing. I was in the deepest pile of Bantha Shit as I had ever been in before. I was so fucking in for it.

When I arrived on Coruscant I realised my next mistake. I was still in Mandalorian armour. I had left my robes and other clothes with Lord Hood and had forgotten to get them back. I knew the council was aware I was back in the temple and any detour would be immediately brought up. I decided it was best to just suck it up and head straight to them.

I received a lot of stares as I walked through the temple. The younger ones were excited to see the new curious being walking about with sabers hanging from their waists while being decked out in Mando armour. The older Jedi seemed to only have contempt. I squared my shoulders and took it all in my stride. I made my choice and I would make the same one again, though maybe I would actually inform Master Obi-Wan if given the chance to do it again.

When I approached the council chambers I saw Master Obi-Wan outside waiting for me. When I stopped before him he gave me a quick glance up and down.

'You are no doubt aware of what we will be talking about in this meeting?!' I nodded. 'Want to change?' I thought about it for a second. To change my clothes now would, actually, be a pretty big deal. Not that the council would admit it but to change out of my armour would be to show full commitment to the Jedi ways and to reject any part of myself that identified with the Mandalorians. And no doubt staying in the armour would be seen as embracing Mandalore as my home while rejecting the Jedi. To the council everything was black and white, one thing or another.

'No.' Obi-Wan sagged. I lightly touched his hand with mine and he let it slip into a gentle grasp. 'This armour is as much a part of who I am as these blades I wield. I am both Jedi _and_ Mandalorian. The council needs to accept that. I can't hide who I am just because they don't like that.' His grip tightened.

'You are a fantastic Jedi. The best of your generation.' His smile was small but it meant the galaxy and more to me. 'You could become Grandmaster one day if you continue to apply yourself.' I laughed.

'No way. I'd rather be out amongst the stars rather than be cooped up in Master Yoda's stuffy old room all day. I'll leave that to you.' He gave light chuckle before it got strangled in the back of his throat. He let go, turned around and offered me his other hand. I cautiously slipped my hand back into his grasp. I had never felt smaller in my life, more likely to break. Master Obi-Wan lead us into the chambers.

The room was emptier than I had ever seen it. There were as many holograms as real people but the empty chairs shouted loudly in their quiet. The war had take much from us. Master Obi-Wan gave my hand a quick pat before he moved to his chair. The loss of his presence only made me feel smaller.

Master Windu took the lead. 'No doubt you are aware why you are here?' His hologram was leant forward, hands folded in front of his face.

'I am. We are here to discuss my mission to Mandalore.' A ripple of _something_ moved through all the Masters present bar Master Obi-Wan, he remained calm and unmoved by my words. I knew the council saw my actions as going against their will so pushing back first, saying I disagreed with them and hadn't disobeyed orders, would stop them from being able to walk all over me.

'No, we're not. We here to discuss you breaking this council's orders on not interfering with neutral systems.' I cut in before Windu could say more. I know what I did was right and I am not going to be punished for it.

'So I _am_ on trial then?!' The council seemed to shift uncomfortably.

'No…'

'Really?! It rather seems like that's the case. I was immediately summoned to the council chambers, immediately set upon with questions and told I had broken orders. It does look like I'm being put on trial.' Windu was slow to respond. Putting someone on trial was a big deal in the order and was only done once all the evidence had already been collected and a verdict had already been reached. While the council let people try to defend themselves it mattered little in the end. An outcome had already been decided and the trial was little more than a show unless new evidence appeared.

'You left the order without knowledge of your whereabouts. This is not allowed young one.' Windu was stern. Yoda watched on with a queer sort of interest, having found some amusement in what I was saying and how. Obi-Wan looked unconcerned.

'But is that a crime?' Windu seemed to grow slightly confused.

'Well, no but…'

'So then there's no problem. Besides, Lord Hood informed Master Obi-Wan of where I was and what I was doing so it is a non-issue.' Windu moved on.

'Speaking of Hood and _what you were doing_ , the council gave strict instructions for there to be no Jedi interference with any of the neutral systems. This is so…' I cut him off again.

'... so that we do not adversely influence them and bring war to their homes by allowing the Separatists to argue that, with Jedi involvement, the system we are trying to help is supporting the Republic. I am aware of the decision and the reasons behind it.'

Windu looked to be growing more frustrated at me cutting him off so much. 'So why did you disobey the councils orders?' The rest of the council grew withdrawn. They no doubt thought I had trapped myself with my own words. Not so.

'I didn't.' Before Windu, or even another council member, could speak up I continued. 'The order was to not interfere. I didn't. Hood asked for Jedi assistance with an internal matter, he specifically requested Jedi aid. Isn't ignoring a worlds cry for help just a different type of interference. Hood knew the consequences of asking for Jedi aid if it was ever found out that I had helped him, he was ready to face those consequences and join the war on the Republics side if it ever came down to it. Who are we to tell him his decision is wrong? If they are prepared to make that choice why shouldn't we help out? We do more harm by abandoning them to their fate.' Yoda leaned in.

'Believe this, do you? That by doing nothing, interfering you would have been?'

'I do. If they are ready to accept the consequences then by denying aid we are telling them they made the wrong choice. We are telling them what path they should take. We interfere in their ability to choose for themselves.' Yoda gave a solemn hmm and nodded.

Yoda turned to Master Kenobi. 'Trained her well, you did.' Windu jumped in.

'Even if that is the case, the fact remains…' Windu was cut off again. This time it was by a hologram activating in the centre of the room. Director Halsey.

'I need Commander Tano.' Well, that was straight to the point.

'We are currently in the middle of something. This is a Jedi matter and is of no concern of ONI's.' Windu's patience seemed to be running thin.

'Ah, forgive me. I will simply put this crucial assignment on hold for now. I understand that internal Jedi matters are more important than the restoration of peace and order to the galaxy. Forgive me for rudely assuming otherwise.' Windu's eye looked to be twitching. He was stuck. Damned if he did, damned if he didn't. If he didn't let Halsey speak he was basically admitting that he thought the Jedi Order was more important than ending the war. If he did let her speak my trial-not-trial would be over before he could dish out my punishment, something Halsey no doubt knew meaning she would still win.

'Fine.' he growled out. Halsey turned to me and said the matter she wished to talk about needed to be discussed in private. I nodded along and said I would call her once I reached my quarters. She ended the call then. I turned to Master Yoda and asked to be excused. His smile more than showed what he thought of this whole thing. He let me leave.

On my way back to my room Master Obi-Wan caught up to me. 'You held yourself well in there.' I thanked him.

'So you had no doubts then?' I asked. He gave a little chuckle.

'Not to sound like I am bragging or anything, but no. I trained you well, you would have found someway to challenge the councils decision. I am not called the Negotiator for nothing, and I have not spent a considerable amount of your training trying to impart those skills onto you for nothing.' I gave the man a little smile. Master Obi-Wan had taught me much and had been the height of patience with me. I know I wasn't always the best of students, I knew I could be reckless and headstrong, but he had never thought less of me for it, never seen me as a unworthy pupil.

'Thank you.' It conveyed all I wanted to say but couldn't find the right words for. Master Obi-Wan seemed to glow with pride.


	58. Chapter 58

Halsey POV

Sith Alchemy was such a curious discipline. If used properly then it could allow even those with minimal Force Presence to rival those with the title of Darth. Such a shame it had been, by and large, lost to the galaxy. It seems only the Nightsisters of Dathomir had any real concept of it now, though the Dathomir version was unrecognisable from its Sith counterpart. The Dathomirians called it Magick. A clumsy though not entirely inaccurate name.

Sith Alchemy was a treasure trove of fascinating and useful abilities. Kaddak, Vau and all the Immortals across the galaxy had been invaluable help in my experiments. I had spent a lot of my spare time transcribing rituals from recovered Sith Artifacts and sent them to various Immortal Divisions across the galaxy, after making sure they were suitable.

All the rituals were, obviously, very heavily Force based. While they required different materials to work they all required the Force to activate them, which left me in somewhat of a bind, I had no Force users to use the rituals.

This had forced me to get creative. All the information I had found on the Force agreed that willpower was needed to use the Force. Force Presence made it easier for people to use more powerful abilities but a person with less Force Presence could still do everything a person with more Force Presence could so long as they had the willpower to back it up. Do or do not, as it were. While this made mental fatigue a real issue it did allow me to come up with a crafty solution to my power problem. I didn't have access to a strong, trained Force user but I did have access to thousands of soldiers who had the willpower to make up for their lack of Presence and training. The Immortals belief in the ritual will make it work, or so I had theorised. A theory that had thankfully panned out.

No doubt Bane would throw a fit if he found out what I was doing. Even now he was a strong supporter of his silly little _rule of two_ idea. Utter nonsense. Mandalore hadn't gone to war with the galaxy with just two warriors for a reason, it couldn't be done. Even when beings like Vitiate, Raven and Andeddu were alive, two Sith had never fought against the galaxy without an army at their beck and call. Bane's teachings were flawed, but not completely worthless.

He was right that too many weak Sith had infested the order of his time but he was wrong to say that by helping each other they had become weak. Mandalorians were feared for their prowess and skill yet we numbered no more than a handful of star systems. We fought and nearly defeated the Galactic Republic despite never being able to match them in numbers, and we did it by working together. The reason the Sith of Banes era were weak was because they joined together out of fear and lack any real sense of unity. Their fear had them ally with enemies and then try to undermine the same people they had worked alongside. This meant they spent less time honing their skills and were weaker as a result.

Another obvious flaw in Bane's thinking was Darth Vitiate. He is widely believed to have been the most powerful Sith of his time, and perhaps to have ever existed. While he gained all of his power by himself he would never have gotten so powerful without help. He learnt under Sith Masters who sought to bring out his strength, not undermine it. Powerful Sith who saw his potential sought to nurture him rather than end him before he became a threat. They embraced him rather than fear him.

Bane's rule of two tried to bring back the older Sith ways, where powerful individuals tried to make even more powerful successors but failed to address the underlying weaknesses of the order he destroyed and replaced. By only having two Sith he created a situation where it was inevitable for a Sith Master to fear losing their power to their Apprentice. No one wants to die and Sith even more so. So, the Master will eventually try to stave off death. The easiest way would be by withholding knowledge from their students. If the student was too weak to kill the Master then the Master had more time to find a way to cheat death. If Bane had not made it a requirement for the Master to die when the student rose to the rank of Master then his order may not have become the very thing he was now trying to wipe out.

As it stands, only Mandalore knew the true path to power.

Mandalore also understood that a small group of well-trained individuals will always triumph over a large group with moderate training. One only needed to look at what happened on Jabiim and at Boar Company to see that. An entire army stopped by a single company of men, a grand reminder to the galaxy of Mandalorian Might.

Along with the rituals, I had also added _Battle Hymns_. These were completely unnecessary in every sense but one, they enhanced the Immortals belief. The ritual could be performed without the Hymn but the extra little Mandalorian flare erased any doubts from the Immortals, increasing their faith and producing strong results.

This latest fusion of Sith Alchemy and Mandalorian tradition was made from deciphered and translated texts that detailed how to summon a being known as a Smoke Demon. It was bound to its summoners will and possessed significant strength and abilities. It was semi-intangible, turning so at will, and could disintegrate any who were consumed by its _flesh_ , trapping their souls within its body until the Demon was destroyed. A curious thing that may prove useful later.

As these Demons wouldn't have a singular summoner to follow it would be interesting to see how they would behave. Would they follow the individual from the group with the most Force Sensitivity? Would they follow everyone in the division equally? Or, would they only act on orders agreed upon by the whole division? I'll have Serrin monitor the situation closely.

I was just finished transcribing another ritual. I had acquired a small library of Holocrons, both Jedi and Sith, and had been studying them avidly. While I cannot use the knowledge myself that just made me the perfect person to listen to the Holocrons. No matter how tempted I was to use the knowledge held within I couldn't. It was useless to me.

I'd routinely sifted through the various transcripts I made to find any and all useful information and had begun creating a library for future generations of Mandalorian Force Wielders. I made sure that any knowledge too dangerous was either erased from record or adapted in a way so as to be usable without the corrupting effects recorded by the Sith.

I rewatched the latest footage from Vau on his ritual. It, like the others, affected the mind. The way this ritual differed was that it produced two effects instead of one, though that point could be argued. The first was that it created a sort of false bravado in the troopers who used the ritual, ridding them of fear and other such emotions. While I suspected that may erase their caution it wasn't like Vau and his men had much to begin with. They were trained to march to their deaths after all.

The second effect was that it created a sort of aura around the ritual users that affected those around them. Others who used the ritual were protected but anyone else experienced all the emotions that the users had shed. I suspected the ritual worked by using the shed feelings and forming them into the aura effect but the Sith who made it was more focused on what the ritual did rather than how it did it. Still, a useful tool in the right situations.

* * *

Obi-Wan POV

It was nice to sit down and have a cup of tea with Windu again. Since Halsey's interruption last week Mace had not been in the best of moods. I understood his concerns, the Jedi were being pushed further and further out of the military by the Mandalorians, but I couldn't help thinking that was a good thing. We were never meant to fight a war on the Republics behalf and we were certainly not the most qualified to serve as commanders. Mandalore had tried to play along but now they were sick of our inexperience and lack of knowledge getting their men killed. The Jedi's resistance to admit to our own faults and gracefully bow out of the war was only breeding more resentment and pushing the Mandalorians to harsher means.

While I didn't condone their actions I certainly understood them. I had tried to convince the council to withdraw the Jedi from the war completely but most were either on the fence about it all or were of the opinion that allowing the Mandalorians to put their own people in high positions of the military, to replace the Jedi Generals and Commanders, was just asking for disaster. While no one had said it I knew that many within the Order believed that the Master Chief might soon initiate a military coup. An unfortunately real possibility with the clones loyalties split between the Republic and Mandalore.

Still, I wholeheartedly believed the Master Chief was loyal to the Republic and would serve with honour and integrity for the rest of the war. It was what came after that worried me. There was no way to tell what his successor would be like.

I was shucked from my thoughts by Mace. 'You trained that girl well.' I nodded along. She had really held herself well in her meeting with the council. 'She knows of the Old Code?' I nodded to his question.

'Yes. It helped resolve the conflict within herself. She feels strongly, for both those under her care and the innocents of the galaxy, no matter which side of this conflict they fall on.' Mace was still disgruntled.

'It's not her emotions I have a problem with.' I was well aware.

'If not for the Old Code I believe she would have already left the Order to join the Mandalorians.' I told him.

Mace seemed not to care. 'Perhaps that would have been best. Then we wouldn't have a spy in our midsts.'

'Mace…' My tone was warning enough. He sighed and quickly relented.

'I didn't mean it like that. I have no problems with the girl but you can't deny she is slowly becoming their pawn. Her close ties to the 501st and the Master Chief himself are especially worrying. You are as aware as I am that he's managed to turn Knight Offee to his side.' I was. Barriss had been a strong choice to keep tabs on the Master Chief because the council believed that her experiences with him would keep her wary of him and because she was a brilliant Jedi who strictly adhered to the Code. She was a credit to her Master.

But, recently, she had become… _emotional_. She stubbornly resisted all attempts by the council to get information on the Chief and his doings and seemed to actively defend him any time someone seemed to be _getting the wrong idea_. One time, while reporting before the council in person, her anger had come through so strongly many thought she might be Sith. She had calmed herself quickly but we were extremely wary now that she showed signs she was beginning to crack. After her little slip, she refused to report in person any more and ignored all orders to return to the temple for reassignment.

We had quietly banished her from the Order a few days ago and had made no plans to inform the rest of the Jedi, it wouldn't do to increase tensions by telling them the Chief wasn't under the councils watch anymore or that he had managed to make a Jedi fall. Barriss had exploded at the council when informed, only reaffirming the choice in our minds.

The council had tried to banish Ahsoka for the same reasons, being too close to the Chief and failing to follow the Code, but she had shown herself to be a capable Jedi when brought before the council and I was immensely proud of her. Mace grumbled and complained about her but I knew the incident had given him some respect for her and her commitment to the Jedi.

'Ahsoka's commitment to the Mandalorians customs has nothing to do with the Master Chief or his _influence_.' I told him. Mace disagreed.

'Don't think that I don't know it was Captain Rex who introduced her to all of this. Whether willing or not, she is key placed to give them insider information on the Order. We have long been enemies and it doesn't look like that's going to end soon.' That gave me a good chuckle.

'And they say I'm biased, being in bed with the Mandalorians and all that. Watch yourself Mace, someone might think you have a grudge if you carry on.' He gave a little laugh. Mace and I had always been opposite thinkers but that's just what made conversations so enjoyable, we challenged each other.

'Maybe,' he admitted.

'Besides, you forget that Ahsoka was under Anakin's care when she first showed interest.' Mace drained the rest of his cup and set it down.

'I suppose you have a point. Let's move on to something else. Seeing as you brought it up, let's talk about Satine. Is she doing well?'

'Better,' I corrected. 'She's still upset about what happened but Padme is helping her and I like to think that I am too. While not what she's used to, Satine is enjoying being back in the Senate again.' Mace gave a small smile at that. 'Although, there was a small incident a few days ago. A clone in Mando armour came to see senator Amidala and asked if he could shadow her and if she could teach him how to be a senator. Apparently, he's the Master Chiefs chosen representative in the Senate. A Commander Gree if I remember correctly. As soon as he realised Satine was her aid he quickly apologised and said he would look for someone else.' Mace raised an eyebrow.

'Let me guess, she didn't take that well.' I shook my head.

'No, she didn't. While to me, with what I know of the Commander, it seems like he was being respectful and didn't wish to intrude, letting her get on with her life without reminders about the past, Satine seems to think its because he didn't want to be near a Dar'ali.' Mace poured another cup and then tried to hide his smile behind it.

'You're the one sleeping with her, you're the one who has to deal with her complaining.' I nodded along gravely. I knew that very well. 'Any other news from Mandalore?' He asked.

'Only two. The Chief is ready to rejoin the fight and is going to be leading the 501st again. Their presence has been sorely missed. Another is that he is currently buying up all public transport and taxi services on Mandalore.' That really got Maces attention.

'Why?' I finished my cup and set it down, I didn't want any more.

'The Master Chief is of the belief that public transport should be a public service, funded by the government. Employees will receive a fixed rate across the board for hours done and fuel will be paid for by the government. Fares will act similar to taxes and go towards funding government projects around the Mandalorian Sector.' I told him.

'You seem to know a lot of what's going on.' I did. The Master Chief was being very open with what Mandalore was doing, recording his council meetings and making them public record, as a way to rebuild any broken trust. If people knew what Mandalore was doing with their money it would go a long way to subduing any of the growing fears that had started since the Chief had taken over. 'What will happen if businesses refuse to sell? I'm sure some people aren't willing to just hand over their businesses to the government.'

I eyed Mace. 'Mandalore isn't exactly known for being paragons of virtue. They've had a lot of connections to the Hutt Cartels in the past.' Mace seemed to get what I was driving at. Harassment, extortion, racketeering, all tools of the Cartels and tactics the Mandalorians will no doubt employ to get what they want. The Chief committed to doing what he believes is best for his people and is willing to do _anything_ to make sure it happens.

* * *

Dooku POV

'I see you have recovered from your defeat.' My Master snarled. I rubbed my jaw. It still ached. A week of solid bacta treatment had healed it completely but the sting of my humiliation had yet to fade.

'I have, my Master.' He seemed to only grow more displeased.

'While I am aware of the Spartans being to match Force User I did not think you so weak as to lose to them. You have encountered this pair often and yet have still failed to eliminate them.' I rushed to explain, hoping he would see reason.

'Master, these two seem unusually eager to run in the face of defeat. They are unlike other Sparta…' I couldn't breathe. To think, my Master could Force Choke a being across the galaxy. In any other situation it would have been impressive but right now I was trying to focus on gwtting air into my lungs.

'The reason they ran is because they had already completed _their_ objective and were trying to deny you yours, their deaths. The fact they have returned multiple times to antagonise you and still escape with their lives only highlights your failure.' He released me and I fell to my knees, gasping for air.

'They leave each fight defeated. If I had another in my service, someone uninvolved in the war, that could be spared to chase them down and kill them I know they could be killed.' My Master began to choke me again.

'So, not only do you fail me but you beg me to allow another to correct your failures.' He let me go much sooner than last time. 'Very well.' I looked up at his hologram in surprise. 'Maul proved to be a valuable apprentice, perhaps you should seek out another Dathomirian to deal with your little Spartan problem.

'Now, tell me of the situation with your HK droids. How many have you stockpiled?' I rose to my feet.

'73. These new and improved HK-B's have proven to be expensive and require very rare materials. While the prototype HK's provided effective in their initial outings I believe this to be due to their unorthodox behaviour. Since the Spartans have adapted they have proven to be challenging but little actual threat. The prototypes were also limited in what they could do, the ways they could fight. While they possessed superior engineering they still ran on the same internal matrix as Grievous' Magnaguards.' I told him.

'I have had engineers working on unlocking more and more of secrets from the recovered head of the original and they have made much progress, though much is still unknown to us. Revans work truly is masterful and above even our full understanding. Still, with what we have recovered we have managed to create a new prototype brain for HK-B's. It has been modelled off of organic brains, making it capable of learning and growing. The more they fight and study the Spartans the more effect foils they will become. We have also managed to improve durability as well as increase speed and strength. They are true equals to the Spartans now, lacking only in experience.' I explained. My Master's glee was apparent.

'Good. This should go a long way to prolonging the war.'

'How much longer, may I ask?' Master Sidious turned sharply to me. I quickly averted my eyes and bowed my head.

'As long as it takes for everything to be in place, my _apprentice_.' I bowed deeply, showing my servitude.

'I apologise.' He dismissed it.

'You say these new droid brains were modelled on biological ones?' He questioned.

'Yes. We scanned several subjects brains and tried to create a computer model from that but they degraded quickly, forming logic errors and essentially thought themselves to death. We have managed to create a process that can create a _living_ droid brain but the materials the brain is made of are the rarest part of the droid and the costliest. The new process also always results in the death of the subject.' I told him. He seemed intrigued.

'Can knowledge be transferred too? Memories, personalities?' It seems he had something in mind.

'Knowledge can be downloaded into the brains but it must be structured differently, tailor-made for each brain, due to the different brain structures themselves. This does result in the droids possessing different personalities, ones that closely resemble the personalities of their organic template, but we can program in loyalty. While we can't, say, make them loyal to the Separatists, as they cannot yet comprehend what the Confederacy _is_ just yet, we can make them loyal to the first person they see, that being myself. All we need to do is have them imprint in a manner similar to some animals.

'As for memory, some possess fragments but this seems to be a glitch in the process. No droid has shown to remember anything more than this and it never seems to be whole fragments, just an incoherent jumble of sights, sounds and feelings.' Sidious nodded along, lost in his head, planning something.

'Quiet ingenious. See what else you can unlock from Revans droid, we will no doubt need to improve on our versions soon. All information points to Revans original droid being his equal in combat. I doubt the Master Chief could boast the same. If we can improve our droids to such levels the Jedi will not stand a chance.

'For now, send out what droids we have, in teams of no less than three, and send them to various fronts along the galaxy. Have them target Jedi but make sure they flee if they begin to lose or encounter a Spartan, let us have them gain some experience before taking them on. Also, transfer the coordinates for this brain conversion site of yours, I may have another use for it soon.' I quickly typed out the coordinates and sent them off. With that, my Master then cut the communication. I immediately called up the overseer in charge of training the HK-B's.

'It's time,' I told him, and gave him the instructions for the droids deployment.


	59. Chapter 59

Ahsoka POV

Halsey had given me a fleet. Me. A fleet. I still couldn't believe it. And it wasn't just any fleet either, but a stealth one. As far as I was aware the last Republic attempt at a stealth ship had been at the start of the war. And that one was no more than corvette class.

Halsey had bragged a lot about her newest creation. Apparently, she had used stygium crystals in the shield generators to make us invisible to enemy radar and had managed to incorporate some into the hyperdrive to make our hyperspace jumps undetectable. I was itching to try her out.

After explaining how she made the fleet Halsey had told me why. To go behind enemy lines. While Separatist territory was shrinking rapidly their troop numbers weren't falling anywhere near as fast. Seeing as how they couldn't bleed us of men now that the Chief was reinforcing the troops with Mandalorians, the new Separatist strategy was to tightly guard a smaller handful of worlds. These worlds were leading industrial centres for the entire galaxy, not just the Separatists. With a larger troop presence, they could minimise losses. The could then, theoretically, use these industry worlds to offset their losses. If they could keep a hold of these key worlds then they might be able to replace every troop they lost. And from there it was just a waiting game. While every troop the Separatists produce is as good as the ones they lost the same can't be said for the Republic.

With the destruction of Jango's DNA, the Republic army couldn't replace their troops anywhere near as easily. While the Chief was able to offset this by using Mandalorians to fill any openings in the ranks and to reinforce his men that was still a temporary fix. If we didn't end the war soon the Republic would eventually have to start implementing conscription and that meant troops that had nowhere near the training of the Mandalorians, clone or otherwise. The Separatists just needed to hold out long enough then the conscripts will come in. When the Republic starts using conscripts and troop quality goes down the Separatist army can finally start pushing back. Or so Halsey had explained.

Which is why my fleet would be going behind enemy lines and destroying Separatist factories. ONI had been sending Spartan teams to do this since the war had started but they were no longer being able to make a dent. For every factory destroyed the Separatist seemed to be able to make a new one in record time. So the Republic needed to destroy more of them in larger quantities.

With the new stealth tech, the fleet would be able to jump into system undetected, bomb the factories and then get out of system before the defensive fleet can locate us.

While I was doing this, Republic forces would be making several pushes on the larger industry worlds, leaving me to mop up the smaller ones. The Master Chief had reorganised the outer rim sieges into a new campaign that targeted these worlds and was throwing troops at them. He was trying to take them out as a quickly as he could. Unfortunately, asset denial tactics were off limits for these worlds, meaning no orbital bombardment. They would be key to the recovery effort once the war was over.

Halsey had done more than add stygium to things when she made the fleet. For starters, all ships were Venator class. As both destroyers and carriers, they were the perfect ship for this fleet. We had no support ships like the Acclamators or Arquintens simply because they weren't needed. Destroying ground installations and launching bombers is all we needed to do, we wouldn't be getting into ship-to-ship engagements.

Also, all ships in the fleet had minimal crew. Our mission wasn't to assault planets so we had no need of ground forces. In their place we had replacement ship personal, but again, seeing as how we weren't supposed to be getting into fights this was kept to a minimum.

She had also converted all vehicle bays into fighter bays. While all fighters still had to be launched them via the central launch bay the ships could store and use more starships. Nearly every starship within the fleet was bomber class, though there were some fighter escorts. Our main focus was bombing ground targets and it was more likely they would be defended by AA rather than fighters. Still, the possibility couldn't be ruled out. Halsey had also given us some Broadswords. They were apparently a multirole starship meant for both fighter-to-fighter engagements as well as bombing runs. Halsey said they were a Strike class ship.

As we were meant to be operating behind enemy lines for months at a time Halsey had stocked each ship up on food, water, ammunition and ship parts. While we didn't get any more medical supplies than normal that by itself was more than enough for a crew of this size.

As to how ONI got a hold of all these assets, considering they fall under naval jurisdiction, I don't know. The crews were all ONI personnel but ONI shouldn't have access to Venators or bombers. While Halsey had used as many ONI assets as and when she could, this being shown in the fact that the few dropships the fleet had access to were all Pelicans, she should never have been able to get her hands on one Venator let alone six. It only made me more weary of the dangerous woman.

Halsey also told me this would be a Black class operation. Black class ops were operations that _no one_ who didn't need to know knew about. Not the Chancellor and not the Chief. To explain away my disappearance from the galaxy Halsey had said she would be faking my death. I was apparently going to die in battle when the ONI team I was leading got ambushed on Cordis IV. Not the most heroic of deaths but I'd live. Or not, I suppose. Either way, Halsey needed something from me, something to convince the Jedi I was really dead. My blades.

I had been so reluctant to hand them over. It was only the knowledge that I could get them back when the war was over that made me do it. I just hope Master Obi-wan doesn't hit me when I come back for having lied to him again and for taking another undercover mission without telling him. At least this time it was for the Republic so the council had nothing to complain about.

My fleet admiral was someone I had never heard of before, but then that was no real surprise, and she seems amicable enough from what little interaction we'd had. In fact, everything I knew about Shonn Volta could boil down to one word. Professional. She had Halsey's full backing but how she could just pull an admiral into her little project with no questioning it, considering Admirals to fell under naval jurisdiction, was as much a mystery as everything else the woman did.

Oh, I almost forgot. Halsey had come up with a name for this whole fake-death-Black-operation-invisible-fleet-thing. Ghost Division. I think it fits rather well.

* * *

John POV

It felt good to be back in the field. I don't think I suited ruling. No, I belonged on the battlefield. I was born for it. It was probably the reason I hated being cooped up all day, listening to the petty squabbles of my alors and advisors. Out here I was who I was meant to be, a soldier.

Not that Halsey or Hood agreed. Both seemed please with my progress and had tried to keep me on the throne longer. They said my place was ruling over Mandalore not out here on the frontlines. I disagreed and that was that. Despite being my advisors, at the end of the day, it was my orders they followed. If I wanted to fight then I fought.

I left Hood to rule in my stead. He had done well in the absence of a true Mandalore and I trusted he would continue to now. He knew what my plans for our people were and would put them into action. The only real reason he had tried to keep me on Mandalore was to try and resolve some civil disputes that had arisen when I took the throne. Some of the Clans didn't like the fact that a nobody had become Mandalore and rejected my right to rule. It wasn't as if they were in open rebellion or anything, those that were had fled with Pre, but I did have to suffer through them whining through council meetings. It would seem they prefer Pre over me simply because they knew who he was, never mind the fact he was unfit to call himself Mandalorian let alone Mandalore. Hood claimed that dealing with these people personally would only solidify my rule, and perhaps he was right, but I had spent too much time away from the men. Besides, if I win the war then I earn the people's favour. If they still grumble and complain after that then I have no doubt that another of their Clan will eventually replace them as alor and the problem will sort itself out.

As for the Clans that followed Pre into exile, they were: Clans Saxon, Rook, Eldar and Wren. I had argued to Halsey I had more chance of finding them out here, fighting in the outer rim sieges, than I did sitting around on Mandalore when she questioned why I had left Mandalore. She probably saw it for what it was, an excuse, but made no comment so I took that to mean I had her reluctant approval.

I was currently on the way to Balmorra. It was one of the largest industry worlds in the galaxy and was currently part of the CIS. We had landed forces on the planet nearly a month ago during the sieges but had only taken about a third of the planet. Even at two-thirds strength, ONI reports indicated CIS-held-Balmorra still produced enough droids to reinforce a twentieth of the Separatist armies and enough munitions to supply half their entire force, navy and army combined.

That was how important Balmorra is. When Balmorra fell so too would the CIS, it would only be a matter of time. And with Balmorra being so important it was also the most heavily defended planet in the entire galaxy. A full six CIS armies were stationed on the planet and the Chancellor absolutely refused any drastic actions like orbital bombardment, and I happened to agree. Balmorra was one planet we could ill afford to be without.

And it was, for this reason, the Chancellor and I had assigned the 501st, the 327th, the 212th, the 41st, Krayt and a couple hundred other Legions to take the planet. A near eighth of our total numbers. With us and the droids, the planet was near to bursting. And the space around the planet was in a similar situation. Both sides were constantly reinforcing their fleets and we had been at constant war above the planet for weeks, making the battle for Balmorra the longest space battle of the entire war. Neither side was willing to lose the planet.

When the 501st touched down at Point Sigma we were immediately redirected to our assigned sectors. ONI was pulling extreme overtime to make sure this thing ran as smoothly as possible. The slightest hitch would grind the entire campaign to a halt. No doubt Logistics was being run ragged. It then took a full day and a half to travel from Sigma to our sector of the front. When we arrived I immediately reported to sector HQ to found out what was going on.

When I entered I was immediately greeted by Generals Kenobi and Skywalker. I was surprised to see Skywalker glaring at me as I had thought we part on good terms, all those months ago. Had that really only been a year? It felt far longer. Either way, Skywalker seemed to have found some other reason to be mad at me so I paid him no mind. I asked Kenobi to fill me in.

According to him, we were having a hard time making the push towards one of Balmorra's chief production cities. The plan was for us to break through the droid lines and push towards the city. Legions would then filter in after us to make sure our supply lines weren't cut off. Once we captured it ONI would be directing fresh Legions to move through the corridor we made in the enemies rank and would then spread them out behind the enemy, linking up with other Legions coming from other captured cities that were supposed to be taken at around the same time. This would hopefully encircle most of the droid forces on the planet and we could flank and destroy them.

It was basic but we had no time for fancy battle tactics on Balmorra. The battlefield changed too much to ever be able to predict it, and if you can't predict something then you can't plan for it. The plan carried a big risk of us getting outflanked ourselves if the droids managed to cut of our supply corridor but so long as we kept two cities and their supply corridors we could link them. And if we could link them we could encircle all the droids between them. Once they were dealt with the Separatists would be forced to compensate and we should be able to smash through their newly weakened frontline.

Kenobi informed me we were nowhere close to making a hole in their lines big enough to push men through. I suppose that means it was up to the 501st to do it instead. I called up all the other Sector commands to confirm the arrival of their reinforcements. After receiving confirmation from them I informed them that tomorrow, 0800 standard hours, would be when we were going to be making our second big push. Hopefully, we actually broke through this time.

* * *

Aayla POV

I don't know how long I spent on this planet. Its weird, distorted gravity stopped chronos from working. While Master Fey and her companions spent their time in caves translating ancient texts and figuring out what old pictograms meant I went looking for my men. I found it highly unlikely that I had been the only one to survive.

And I was right. After nearly a days travel from the cave Master Fey was studying I finally managed to raise a signal on my comms. An escape pod full of survivors had crashed close to my location and I went to go find them. When I did I noticed most of them were just soldiers but one had been an engineer. It seems he had been using his time to boost the comms to try and pick up any other signals but I was the only one to respond. Considering I had been no more than a few hours away over rocky terrain just went to show how little distance the signal had travelled. I lead some of the other men back to my pod to see if we could salvage anything from it to boost their pods' range.

Thankfully, we had. The engineer had quickly used these parts to boost the range but it still went no more than a few miles. Considering these were designed to be heard from orbit without needing to be boosted I suspect the planet's gravity was interfering with communications as well.

Deciding it would be best to have a change of scenery, I had the men pull the comms array from the pod and had them set it up in one of the abandoned cities on the planet. It provided shelter, freshwater and the lands around the city were teeming with animals to kill and eat.

Our next problems were finding a way off this planet and finding the rest of the men. I had thought the transport problem would have been simple. Master Fey and her friends had landed on the planet somehow and, considering they didn't seem too bothered about leaving, I bet that their ship hadn't crashed. Though I suspect Master Fey and that Chirrut man wouldn't panic even if it had. Baze, on the other hand, looked more rational and so if he was calm about the whole thing it was reasonable to suggest they had landed safely.

When I asked Master Fey about leaving she said we would in due time and to not worry about it for now. Kriff no. Master Fey might be willing to sit around and let the Force do everything for her but I wasn't. I was a do-it-yourself kind of girl and I didn't appreciate being rescued when I could do so myself. That, and I still had to find the rest of my men first.

I had organised the men into small patrol shifts. They would carry the jury-rigged communications array with them on their patrols to pseudo boost its area. After about a week of trying we got a hit. It seems someone else had gotten the same idea about setting up patrol patterns and had their patrols continuously blasting the comms hoping for an answer.

The clone behind this brilliant idea had been a 501st ODST. In my experience, non-officer clones weren't very flexible in terms of tactics. You got a few bright sparks here and there but most had been snapped up by officer training. It was hard to be creative when you were bred to be loyal. Considering the officers, barring myself and Bly, had been some of the first evacuated I was impressed at the clones creativity. It seems the Chief valued free thinkers.

Finding this ODST and his men had put us in touch with other holdouts that they had gotten into contact with but didn't have the resources to go out and recover. Fortunately, with the city as our base, I did. After recovering the men and the equipment from the various pods we came across I had the engineers try to make a fully operational communications array that could get us in touch with every man on the planet. A few days of solid work and they were done. The next challenge had been trying to find where all the men were.

As we had no reliable maps of the world we had been forced to rely on the primitive ones made by the planets previous inhabitants. After nearly a month of solid work, we had managed to place every team on the planet somewhere on the map. How close we were is something we'd only find out once we actually went out and found them.

That's not to say we had gathered up some of the survivors in the meantime, we had. Gathering the men in the immediate vicinity had been a priority task while we had people working on placing men on the map. We had even tried directing groups towards each other and cities so that they weren't just left to fend for themselves in the wild. Some had been more fortunate than others in that regard.

It would take another month after placing all the men before we managed to get everyone into a city with other troops. Bly was currently in charge of the largest of the holdouts as most of the pods had fallen close to him. Once we had no more teams wandering the wilderness we began recovery efforts.

Using the distress beacons of the escape pods we began directing teams to go and recover the pods and the men inside them. Their bodies had begun to rot but that only made us more determined to put them to rest. We tried to burn as many bodies as we could and what we couldn't burn we buried together, as per Mandalorian custom. We had gotten a few lucky breaks by finding the odd survivor here and there but it had mostly been bodies. By the time we recovered all the pods sending out a distress signal it had been roughly four months since we landed on the planet.

Days on this planet didn't seem to have any consistency. They could come and go quickly or be around for extended periods of time. Because of this, and our broken chronos, we had taken to counting the days by sleep schedules. It wasn't the most effective method but it is all we had on hand.

After the pods it would be another two-ish months before Master Fey had finished with her studies. She said the people of the planet had been powerful Force users, gifted in the art of foresight. They had made many prophecies in their time and Master Fey thought they were the ones to first make the prophecy of the chosen one. But that wasn't what had interested Master Fey. She wanted to learn about the Silence.

According to her, the Silence was a great evil that had swept across the galaxy two times in the past. The Celestials had created grand weapons to defeat the Silence and to stop the plague from flooding the galaxy. The first time the Celestials succeeded in pushing the Silence out of the galaxy but the second time had not gone so well. Master Fey said that the stories said that the second firing of the weapons had been sabotaged. The misfire had then created a rift somewhere in the galaxy. She speculated that this rift was the hyperspace disturbance at the galactic edge.

The disturbance stopped all forms of hyperspace making it impossible to travel through it. A few years ago, a short time before the war broke out, the Jedi sent a team of six Masters and twelve Knights on an exploration vessel known as the Outbound Flight. The goal had been to penetrate this rift by using the Force to guide the Outbound Flight safely through it. If it had indeed been caused by the Celestials then it was no wonder the Outbound Flight had been lost.

Now that she had found what she wanted to know, Master Fey told me how she landed on the planet. Apparently the magnetic field around the planet was as unpredictable as the days. It would occasionally drop for days at a time before coming back up. We only had to wait another day or so before the next drop happened.

When the field dropped our signal was picked up by a Republic fleet that had been passing through the sector, as luck would have it. After getting the signal Master Fey had smiled at me and told me that all was as the Force wills it. I wasn't about to give the Force that much credit. The fleet quickly got to work rounding up the survivors. After we were all safely aboard they reported us and our safe return back to high command. While it was nice to see some familiar faces again it wasn't too hard to notice there were quite a few absences. I hoped that just meant they were unavailable but somehow I didn't think this would be the case. After reporting what had happened, on the planet and at Felucia, the fleet started making its way towards Coruscant. All the while, the ships captain filling us in on what we had missed.


End file.
